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BY 


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AUTHOR’S  LETTER  TO  HIS  POBLISHEES, 

Gentlemen, 

You  were  given  to  understand  that  for  some  years  past  I  have  been 
doing  myself  the  paternal  pleasure  of  telling  my  grandchildren  the  History 
of  France,  and  you  ask  if  I  have  any  intention  of  publishing  these  family 
studies  of  our  country’s  grand  life.  I  had  no  such  idea  at  the  outset ;  it  was 
of  my  grandchildren,  and  of  them  alone,  that  I  was  thinking.  What  I  had 
at  heart  was  to  make  them  really  comprehend  our  history,  and  to  interest 
them  in  it  by  doing  justice  to  their  understanding  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
their  imagination,  by  setting  it  before  them  clearly  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
the  life.  Every  history,  and  especially  that  of  France,  is  one  vast,  •  long 
drama,  in  which  events  are  linked  together  according  to  defined  laws,  and  in 
which  the  actors  play  parts  not  ready  made  and  learnt  by  heart,  parts  depend¬ 
ing,  in  fact,  not  only  upon  the  accidents  of  their  birth  but  also  upon  their  own 
ideas  and  their  own  will.  There  are,  in  the  history  of  peoples,  two  sets  of 
causes  essentially  different  and,  at  the  same  time,  closely  connected  ;  the  nat¬ 
ural  causes  which  are  set  over  the  general  course  of  events,  and  the  unre¬ 
stricted  causes  which  are  incidental.  Men  do  not  make  the  whole  of  history  ; 
it  has  laws  of  higher  origin  ;  but,  in  history,  men  are  unrestricted  agents  who 
produce  for  it  results  and  exercise  over  it  an  influence  for  which  they  are 
responsible.  The  fated  causes  and  the  unrestricted  causes,  the  defined  laws 
of  events  and  the  spontaneous  actions  of  man’s  free  agency — herein  is  the 
whole  of  history.  And  in  the  faithful  reproduction  of  these  two  elements 
consist  the  truth  and  the  moral  of  stories  from  it. 

Never  was  I  more  struck  with  this  twofold  character  of  history  than  in 
my  tales  to  my  grandchildren.  When  I  commenced  these  lessons  with  them, 
they,  beforehand,  evinced  a  lively  interest,  and  they  began  to  listen  to  me 
with  serious  good  will  ;  but  when  they  did  not  well  apprehend  the  length¬ 
ening  chain  of  events,  or  when  historical  personages  did  not  become,  in  their 
eyes,  creatures  real  and  free,  worthy  of  sympathy  or  reprobation,  when  the 
drama  was  not  developed  before  them  with  clearness  and  animation,  I  saw 
their  attention  grow  fitful  and  flagging  ;  they  required  light  and  life  together; 
they  wished  to  be  illumined  and  excited,  instructed  and  amused. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  difficulty  of  satisfying  this  twofold  desire 
was  painfully  felt  by  me,  I  discovered  therein  more  means  and  chances  than 
I  had  at  first  foreseen  of  succeeding  in  making  my  young  audience  compre¬ 
hend  the  history  of  France  in  its  complication  and  its  grandeur.  When 
Corneille  observed, — 

“ . In  the  well-born  soul 

Valor  ne’er  lingers  till  due  seasons  roll,” 

he  spoke  as  truly  for  intelligence  as  for  valor.  When  once  awakened  and 


11 


AUTHOR’S  LETTER  TO  HIS  PUBLISHERS. 


really  attentive,  young  minds  are  more  earnest  and  more  capable  of  complete 
comprehension  than  any  one  would  suppose.  In  order  to  explain  fully  to  my 
grandchildren  the  connection  of  events  and  the  influence  of  historical  person¬ 
ages,  I  was  sometimes  led  into  very  comprehensive  considerations  and  into 
pretty  deep  studies  of  character.  And  in  such  cases  I  was  nearly  always  not 
only  perfectly  understood  but  keenly  appreciated.  I  put  it  to  the  proof  in 
the  sketch  of  Charlemagne’s  reign  and  character;  and  the  two  great  objects 
of  that  great  man,  who  succeeded  in  one  and  failed  in  the  other,  received 
from  my  youthful  audience  the  most  riveted  attention  and  the  most  clear 
comprehension.  Youthful  minds  have  greater  grasp  than  one  is  disposed  to 
give  them  credit  for,  and,  perhaps,  men  would  do  well  to  be  as  earnest  in 
their  lives  as  children  are  in  their  studies. 

In  order  to  attain  the  end  I  had  set  before  me,  I  always  took  care  to 
connect  my  stories  or  my  reflections  with  the  great  events  or  the  great  per¬ 
sonages  of  history.  When  we  wish  to  examine  and  describe  a  district  scien¬ 
tifically,  we  traverse  it  in  all  its  divisions  and  in  every  direction  ;  we  visit 
plains  as  well  as  mountains,  villages  as  well  as  cities,  the  most  obscure  cor¬ 
ners  as  well  as  the  most  famous  spots  ;  this  is  the  way  of  proceeding  with  the 
geologist,  the  botanist,  the  archaeologist,  the  statistician,  the  scholar.  But 
when  we  wish  particularly  to  get  an  idea  of  the  chief  features  of  a  country, 
its  fixed  outlines,  its  general  conformation,  its  special  aspects,  its  great  roads, 
we  mount  the  heights ;  we  place  ourselves  at  points  whence  we  can  best  take 
in  the  totality  and  the  physiognomy  of  the  landscape.  And  so  we  must  pro¬ 
ceed  in  history  when  we  wish  neither  to  reduce  it  to  the  skeleton  of  an 
abridgment  nor  extend  it  to  the  huge  dimensions  of  a  learned  work.  Great 
events  and  great  men  are  the  fixed  points  and  the  peaks  of  history ;  and  it  is 
thence  that  we  can  observe  it  in  its  totality,  and  follow  it  along  its  highways. 
In  my  tales  to  my  grandchildren  I  sometimes  lingered  over  some  particular 
anecdote  which  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  setting  in  a  vivid  light  the  domi¬ 
nant  spirit  of  an  age  or  the  characteristic  manners  of  a  people  ;  but,  with  rare 
exceptions,  it  is  always  on  the  great  deeds  and  the  great  personages  of  history 
that  I  have  relied  for  making  of  them  in  my  tales  what  they  were  in  reality, 
the  centre  and  the  focus  of  the  life  of  France. 

At  the  outset,  in  giving  these  lessons,  I  took  merely  short  notes  of  dates 
and  proper  names.  When  I  had  reason  given  me  to  believe  that  they  might 
be  of  some  service  and  interest  to  other  children  than  my  own,  and  even,  I 
was  told,  to  others  besides  children,  I  undertook  to  put  them  together  in  the 
form  in  which  I  had  developed  them  to  my  youthful  audience.  I  will  send 
you,  gentlemen,  some  portions  of  the  work,  and  if  it  really  appears  to  you 
advisable  to  enlarge  the  circle  for  which  it  was  originally  intended,  I  will  most 
gladly  entrust  to  you  the  care  of  its  publication. 

Accept,  gentlemen,  the  assurance  of  my  most  distinguished  sentiments. 

Guizot. 


Val-Richer,  December,  1869. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 


I. 


GAOL  AND  TIE 


(600  B.C.— 305  A.D.) 


GAUL  BEFORE  THE  CHRISTIAN  ERA. 


OUNG  France  inhabits  a  country,  long  ago  civilized 
and  Christianized,  where,  despite  of  much  imperfec¬ 
tion  and  much  social  misery,  thirty-eight  millions  of 
men  live  in  security  and  peace,  under  laws  equal  for 
all  and  efficiently  upheld.  There  is  every  reason  to 
nourish  great  hopes  of  such  a  country,  and  to  wish  for  it 
more  and  more  of  freedom,  glory,  and  prosperity  ;  but  one 
must  be  just  towards  one’s  own  times,  and  estimate  at  their 
true  value  advantages  already  acquired  and  progress  already 
accomplished.  If  one  were  suddenly  carried  twenty  or 
thirty  centuries  backward,  into  the  midst  of  that  which  was 
then  called  Gaul,  one  would  not  recognize  France.  Three  or 
four  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  on  that  vast  territory 
comprised  between  the  ocean,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Mediterra¬ 
nean,  the  Alps,  and  the  Rhine,  lived  six  or  seven  millions  of 
men  a  bestial  life,  enclosed  in  dwellings  dark  and  low,  the  best  of  them  built 
of  wood  and  clay,  covered  with  branches  or  straw,  made  in  a  single  round 
piece,  open  to  daylight  by  the  door  alone,  and  confusedly  heaped  together 
behind  a  rampart,  not  inartistically  composed  of  timber,  earth  and  stone, 
which  surrounded  and  protected  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  a  town. 

Of  even  such  towns  there  were  scarcely  any  as  yet,  save  in  the  most  pop¬ 
ulous  and  least  uncultivated  portion  of  Gaul.  In  the  north  and  the  west  were 
paltry  hamlets,  as  transferable  almost  as  the  people  themselves ;  and  on  some 
islet  amidst  the  morasses,  or  in  some  hidden  recess  of  the  forest,  were  huge 
entrenchments  formed  of  the  trees  that  were  felled,  where  the  population,  at 
the  first  sound  of  the  war-cry,  ran  to  shelter  themselves,  with  their  flocks  and 
all  their  movables.  And  the  war-cry  was  often  heard  :  men  living  grossly  and 
idly  are  very  prone  to  quarrel  and  fight.  Gaul,  moreover,  was  not  occupied 
by  one  and  the  same  nation,  with  the  same  traditions  and  the  same  chiefs. 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


2 

Tribes,  very  different  in  origin,  habits,  and  date  of  settlement,  were  con¬ 
tinually  disputing  the  territory.  In  the  south  were  Iberians  or  Aquitanians, 
Phoenicians  and  Greeks  ;  in  the  north  and  north-west  Kymrians  or  Belgians ; 
everywhere  else,  Gauls  or  Celts,  the  most  numerous  settlers,  who  had  the 
honor  of  giving  their  name  to  the  country.  Who  were  the  first  to  come, 
then  ?  and  what  was  the  date  of  the  first  settlement?  Nobody  knows. 

The  Iberians,  whom  Roman  writers  call  Aquitanians,  dwelt  at  the  foot  of 
the  Pyrenees,  in  the  territory  comprised  between  the  mountains,  the  Garonne, 
and  the  ocean.  They  belonged  to  the  race  which,  under  the  same  appella¬ 
tion,  had  peopled  Spain ;  but  by  what  route  they  came  into  Gaul  is  a  problem 
which  we  cannot  solve.  They  went  under  the  name  of  Basques. 

The  Phoenicians  did  not  leave,  as  the  Iberians  did,  in  the  south  of 
France,  distinct  and  well-authenticated  descendants.  They  had  begun  about 
1 100  B.  c.  to  trade  there.  They  went  thither  in  search  of  furs,  and  gold  and 
silver;  they  brought  in  exchange  stuffs  dyed  with  purple,  necklaces  and  rings 
of  glass,  and,  above  all,  arms  and  wine.  For  the  purpose  of  extending  and 
securing  their  commercial  expeditions,  the  Phoenicians  founded  colonies  in 
several  parts  of  Gaul,  and  to  them  is  attributed  the  earliest  origin  of  Nemau- 
sits  (Nimes),  and  of  Alesia,  near  Semur.  But,  at  the  end  of  three  or  four 
centuries,  these  colonies  fell  into  decay  ;  the  trade  of  the  Phoenicians  was 
withdrawn  from  Gaul,  and  the  only  important  sign  it  preserved  of  their 
residence  was  a  road  which,  starting  from  the  eastern  Pyrenees,  skirted  the 
Gallic  portion  of  the  Mediterranean,  crossed  the  Alps  by  the  pass  of  Tenda, 
and  so  united  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Italy. 

As  merchants  and  colonists,  the  Greeks  were,  in  Gaul,  the  successors  of 
the  Phoenicians,  and  Marseilles  was  one  of  their  first  and  most  considerable 
colonies.  Their  ancestors  had,  in  former  times,  succeeded  the  Phoenicians  in 
the  island  of  Rhodes,  and  they  likewise  succeeded  them  in  the  south  of  Gaul, 
and  founded,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone,  a  colony  called  Rhodanusia  or 
Rhoda.  But  the  importance  of  the  Rhodians  on  the  southern  coast  of  Gaul 
was  short-lived.  It  had  already  sunk  very  low  in  the  year  600  B.  C.,  when 
Euxenes,  a  Greek  trader,  coming  from  Phocea,  an  Ionian  town  of  Asia  Minor, 
to  seek  his  fortune,  landed  from  a  bay  eastward  of  the  Rhone.  The  Sego- 
brigians,  a  tribe  of  the  Gallic  race,  were  in  occupation  of  the  neighboring 
country.  Nann,  their  chief,  gave  the  strangers  kindly  welcome,  and  took 
them  home  with  him  to  a  great  feast  which  he  was  giving  for  his  daughter’s 
marriage,  who  was  called  Gyptis,  according  to  some,  and  Petta,  according  to 
other  historians.  The  custom  was  that  the  maiden  should  appear  only  at  the 
end  of  the  banquet  and  holding  in  her  hand  a  filled  wine-cup,  and  that  the 
guest  to  whom  she  should  present  it  should  become  the  husband  of  her 
choice.  By  accident,  or  quite  another  cause,  say  the  ancient  legends,  Gyptis 
stopped  opposite  Euxenes,  and  handed  him  the  cup.  Great  was  the  surprise, 
and,  probably,  anger  amongst  the  Gauls  who  were  present ;  but  Nann,  believ¬ 
ing  he  recognized  a  commandment  from  his  gods,  accepted  thePhocean  as  his 
son-in-law,  and  gave  him  as  dowry  the  bay  where  he  had  landed,  with  some 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


3 


cantons  of  the  territory  around.  Euxenes,  in  gratitude,  gave  his  wife  the 
Greek  name  of  Aristoxena ,  sent  away  his  ship  to  Phocea  for  colonists,  and, 
whilst  waiting  for  them,  laid  in  the  centre  of  the  bay  the  foundations  of  a 
town,  which  he  called  Massilia — thence  Marseilles. 

The  activity  and  prosperity  of  Marseilles,  both  within  and  without,  were 
rapidly  developed.  She  carried  her  commerce  wherever  the  Phoenicians  and 
the  Rhodians  had  marked  out  a  road  ;  she  repaired  their  forts ;  she  took  to 
herself  their  establishments;  and  she  placed  on  her  medals,  to  signify 
dominion,  the  rose,  the  emblem  of  Rhodes,  beside  the  lion  of  Marseilles. 
But  Nann,  the  Gallic  chieftain,  who  had  protected  her  infancy,  died;  and  his 
son,  Coman,  shared  the  jealousy  felt  by  the  Segobrigians  and  the  neighbor¬ 
ing  peoplets  towards  the  new-comers.  He  promised  and  really  resolved  to 
destroy  the  new  city.  But  once  more  a  woman,  a  near  relation  of  the  Gallic 
chieftain,  was  the  guardian  angel  of  the  Greeks,  and  revealed  the  plot  to  a 
young  man  of  Marseilles,  with  whom  she  was  in  love.  The  gates  were  imme¬ 
diately  shut,  and  so  many  Segobrigians  as  happened  to  be  in  the  town  were 
massacred.  Then,  when  night  came  on,  the  inhabitants,  armed,  went  forth  to 
surprise  Coman  in  the  ambush  where  he  was  awaiting  the  moment  to  surprise 
them.  And  there  he  fell  with  all  his  men. 

In  the  year  542  B.  c.,  Phocea  succumbed  beneath  the  efforts  of  Cyrus, 
King  of  Persia,  and  her  inhabitants,  leaving  to  the  conqueror  empty  streets 
and  deserted  houses,  took  to  their  ships  in  a  body,  to  transfer  their  homes  else¬ 
whither.  A  portion  of  this  floating  population  made  straight  for  Marseilles ; 
others  stopped  at  Corsica,  in  the  harbor  of  Alalia,  another  Phocean  colony. 
But  at  the  end  of  five  years  they  too,  tired  of  piratical  life  and  of  the  incessant 
wars  they  had  to  sustain  against  the  Carthaginians,  quitted  Corsica,  and  went 
to  rejoin  their  compatriots  in  Gaul. 

Thenceforward  Marseilles  found  herself  in  a  position  to  face  her  enemies. 
She  extended  her  walls  all  round  the  bay  and  her  enterprises  far  away.  She 
founded  on  the  southern  coast  of  Gaul  and  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Spain,  per¬ 
manent  settlements,  which  are  to  this  day  towns.  With  this  commercial 
activity  Marseilles  united  intellectual  and  scientific  activity  ;  her  grammarians 
were  among  the  first  to  revise  and  annotate  the  poems  of  Homer;  and  bold 
travelers  from  Marseilles,  Euthymenes  and  Pytheas  by  name,  cruised,  one 
along  the  western  coast  of  Africa  beyond  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  the 
other  the  southern  and  western  coasts  of  Europe,  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Tanais  (Don),  in  the  Black  Sea,  to  the  latitudes  and  perhaps  into  the  interior 
of  the  Baltic. 

By  dint  of  foresight,  perseverance,  and  courage,  the  merchants  of  Mar¬ 
seilles  and  her  colonies  crossed  by  two  or  three  main  lines  the  forests, 
morasses,  and  heaths  through  the  savage  tribes  of  Gauls,  and  there  effected 
their  exchanges,  but  to  the  right  and  left  they  penetrated  but  a  short 
distance ;  even  on  their  main  lines  their  traces  soon  disappeared  ;  and  at  the 
commercial  settlements  which  they  established  here  and  there  they  were  often 
far  more  occupied  in  self-defence  than  in  spreading  their  example.  Beyond  a 


4 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


strip  of  land  of  uneven  breadth,  along  the  Mediterranean,  and  save  the  space 
peopled  towards  the  south-west  by  the  Iberians,  the  country,  which  received 
its  name  from  the  former  of  the  two,  was  occupied  by  the  Gauls  and  the  Kym- 
rians ;  by  the  Gauls  in  the  centre,  south-east,  and  east,  in  the  highlands  of 
modern  France,  between  the  Alps,  the  Vosges,  the  mountains  of  Auvergne, 
and  the  Cevennes ;  by  the  Kymrians  in  the  north,  north-west,  and  west,  in  the 
lowlands,  from  the  western  boundary  of  the  Gauls  to  the  Ocean. 

From  the  seventh  to  the  fourth  century  B.  C.,  a  new  population  spread 
over  Gaul,  not  at  once,  but  by  a  series  of  invasions,  of  which  the  two  principal 
took  place  at  the  two  extremes  of  that  epoch.  They  called  themselves 
Kymrians  or  Kimrians ,  whence  the  Romans  made  the  Cimbrians ,  which 
recalls  Cimmerii  or  Cimmerians,  the  name  of  a  people  whom  the  Greeks  placed 
on  the  western  bank  of  the  Black  Sea  and  in  the  Cimmerian  peninsula,  called 
to  this  day  Crimea .  All  the  peoples  that  successively  invaded  Europe,  Gauls, 
Kymrians,  Germans,  belonged  at  first,  in  Asia,  whence  they  came,  to  a  com¬ 
mon  stem;  the  diversity  of  their  languages,  traditions,  and  manners,  great 
as  it  already  was  at  the  time  of  their  appearance  in  the  West,  was  the  work  of 
time  and  of  the  diverse  circumstances  in  the  midst  of  which  they  had  lived. 

The  Kymrians  descended  southwards,  to  the  banks  of  the  Seine  and  the 
Marne.  There  they  encountered  the  Kymrians  of  former  invasions,  who  not 
only  had  spread  over  the  country  comprised  between  the  Seine  and  the 
Loire,  to  the  very  heart  of  the  peninsula  bordered  by  the  latter  river,  but  had 
crossed  the  sea,  and  occupied  a  portion  of  the  large  island  opposite  >Gaul, 
crowding  back  the  Gauls,  who  had  preceded  them,  upon  Ireland  and  the 
highlands  of  Scotland. 

From  the  earliest  times  to  the  first  century  before  the  Christian  era, 
Gaul  appears  a  prey  to  this  incessant  and  disorderly  movement  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  ;  they  change  settlement  and  neighborhood  ;  disappear  from  one  point 
and  reappear  at  another;  cross  one  another;  avoid  one  another;  absorb  and 
are  absorbed.  And  the  movement  was  not  confined  within  Gaul ;  the  Gauls 
of  every  race  went,  sometimes  in  very  numerous  hordes,  to  seek  far  away 
plunder  and  a  settlement.  Spain,  Italy,  Germany,  Greece,  Asia  Minor  and 
Africa  have  been  in  turn  the  theatre  of  those  Gallic  expeditions  which 
entailed  long  wars,  grand  displacements  of  peoples,  and  sometimes  the 
formation  of  new  nations. 

THE  GAULS  OUT  OF  GAUL. 

,  About  three  centuries  B.  c.  numerous  hordes  of  Gauls  crossed  the  Alps 
and  penetrated  to  the  centre  of  Etruria,  which  is  now-a-days  Tuscany.  The 
Etruscans,  being  then  at  war  with  Rome,  proposed  to  take  them,  armed  and 
equipped  as  they  had  come,  into  their  own  pay.  “  If  you  want  our  hands,” 
answered  the  Gauls,  “  against  your  enemies  the  Romans,  here  they  are  at 
your  service — but  one  condition :  give  us  lands.” 

A  century  afterwards  other  Gallic  hordes,  descending  in  like  manner  upon 
Italy,  had  commenced  building  houses  and  tilling  fields  along  the  Adriatic, 


305  a. D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


5 


on  the  territory  where  afterwards  was  Aquileia.  The  Roman  Senate  decreed 
that  their  settlement  should  be  opposed,  and  that  they  should  be  summoned 
to  give  up  their  implements  and  even  their  arms.  Not  being  in  a  position  to 
resist,  the  Gauls  sent  representatives  to  Rome.  They,  being  introduced  into 
the  Senate,  said,  “  The  multitude  of  people  in  Gaul,  the  want  of  lands,  and 
necessity  forced  us  to ‘cross  the  Alps  to  seek  a  home.  We  will  live  peace¬ 
fully  there  under  the  laws  of  the  republic.” 

Again,  a  century  later,  or  thereabouts,  some  Gallic  Kymrians,  mingled 
with  Teutons  or  Germans,  said  also  to  the  Roman  Senate,  “  Give  us  a  little 
land  as  pay ;  and  do  what  you  please  with  our  hands  and  weapons.” 

A  little  after  the  Gallic  invasion  of  Spain,  and  by  reason  perhaps  of  that 
very  movement,  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century  B.  c.,  another  vast 
horde  of  Gauls,  who  called  themselves  Amhra,  Ambra,  Ambrons ,  that  is, 
“  braves,”  crossed  the  Alps,  occupied  northern  Italy,  descended  even  to  the 
brink  of  the  Tiber,  and  conferred  the  name  of  Ambria  or  Umbria  on  the 
country  where  they  founded  their  dominion.  At  a  much  later  epoch,  in  the 
second  century  B.  C.,  fifteen  towns  of  Liguria  contained  altogether,  as  we  learn 
from  Livy,  20,000  souls.  However,  at  the  end  of  two  or  three  centuries,  this 
Gallic  colony  succumbed  beneath  the  superior  power  of  the  Etruscans, 
another  set  of  invaders  from  eastern  Europe,  perhaps  from  the  north  of 
Greece,  who  founded  in  Italy  a  mighty  empire.  The  Umbrians  or  Ambrons 
were  driven  out  or  subjugated. 

Towards  the  year  587  B.  c.,  almost  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Pho- 
ceans  had  just  founded  Marseilles,  two  great  Gallic  hordes  got  in  motion  at 
the  same  time  and  crossed,  one  the  Rhine,  the  other  the  Alps,  making  one 
for  Germany,  the  other  for  Italy.  The  former  followed  the  course  of  the 
Danube  and  settled  in  Illyria,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river.  Thus  marching 
and  spreading,  leaving  here  and  there  on  their  route,  along  the  rivers  and  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Alps,  tribes  that  remained  and  founded  peoples,  the  Gauls 
had  arrived,  towards  the  year  340  B.  C.,  at  the  confines  of  Macedonia,  at  the 
time  when  Alexander  was  advancing  to  the  same  point  to  restrain  the 
ravages  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  perhaps  of  the  Gauls  themselves.  The 
Gauls  betook  themselves  to  his  camp.  He  treated  them  well,  made  them 
sit  at  his  table,  took  pleasure  in  exhibiting  his  magnificence  before  them,  and 
in  the  midst  of  his  carouse  made  his  interpreter  ask  them  what  they  were 
most  afraid  of.  “  We  fear  naught,”  they  answered,  “  unless  it  be  the  fall  of 
heaven  ;  but  we  set  above  every  thing  the  friendship  of  a  man  like  thee.” 
“  The  Celts  are  proud,”  said  Alexander  to  his  Macedonians  ;  and  he  promised 
them  his  friendship.  On  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Gauls,  as  mercenaries, 
entered,  in  Europe  and  Asia,  the  service  of  the  kings  who  had  been  his  gen¬ 
erals. 

Before  long  they  tired  of  fighting  the  battles  of  another  ;  their  power  ac¬ 
cumulated  ;  fresh  hordes,  in  great  numbers,  arrived  amongst  them  about  the 
year  281  B.  C.  They  had  before  them  Thrace,  Macedonia,  Thessaly,  Greece, 
rich,  but  distracted  and  weakened  by  civil  strife. 


6 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


Ptolemy  the  Thunderbolt,  King  of  Macedonia,  received  with  haughtiness 
their  first  message  requiring  of  him  a  ransom  for  his  dominions,  if  he  wished 
to  preserve  peace.  “Tell  those  who  sent  you,”  he  replied  to  the  Gallic  depu¬ 
tation,  “to  lay  down  their  arms  and  give  up  to  me  their  chieftains.  I  will 
then  see  what  peace  I  can  grant  them.”  On  the  return  of  the  deputation, 
the  Gauls  were  moved  to  laughter.  “  He  shall  soon  see,”  said  they,  “  whether 
it  was  in  his  interest  or  our  own  that  we  offered  him  peace.”  And,  indeed,  in 
the  first  engagement,  neither  the  famous  Macedonian  phalanx,  nor  the  ele¬ 
phant  he  rode,  could  save  King  Ptolemy  ;  the  phalanx  was  broken,  the 
elephant  riddled  with  javelins,  the  king  himself  taken,  killed,  and  his  head 
marched  about  the  field  of  battle  on  the  top  of  a  pike. 

Three  years  later,  another  and  a  more  formidable  invasion  came  bursting 
upon  Thessaly  and  Greece.  It  was,  according  to  the  unquestionably  exag¬ 
gerated  account  of  the  ancient  historians,  200,000  strong,  and  commanded  by 
that  famous,  ferocious,  and  insolent  Brennus,  the  Senonic  chief.  His  idea 
was  to  strike  a  blow  which  should  simultaneously  enrich  the  Gauls  and  stun 
the  Greeks.  He  meant  to  plunder  the  temple  at  Delphi,  the  most  venerated 
place  in  all  Greece,  whither  flowed  from  century  to  century  all  kinds  of  offer¬ 
ings,  and  where,  no  doubt,  enormous  treasure  was  deposited. 

All  Greece  was  moved.  The  nations  of  the  Peloponnese  closed  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth  by  a  wall.  Outside  the  isthmus,  the  Boetians,  Phocidians 
Locrians,  Megarians,  and  yEtolians  formed  a  coalition  under  the  leadership  of 
the  Athenians  ;  and  they  advanced  in  all  haste  to  the  pass  of  Thermopylae,  to 
stop  there  the  new  barbarians. 

But  soon,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  Persians,  traitors  guided  Brennus  and 
his  Gauls  across  the  mountain-paths;  the  position  of  Thermopylae  was  turned  ; 
the  Greek  army  owed  its  safety  to  the  Athenian  galleys  ;  and  by  evening  of 
the  same  day  the  barbarians  appeared  in  sight  of  Delphi. 

The  Greeks  prepared  with  ardor  for  the  fight.  Their  enthusiasm  was  in¬ 
tense.  Those  barbarians,  with  their  half-nakedness,  their  grossness,  their 
ferocity,  their  ignorance  and  their  impiety,  were  revolting.  They  committed 
murder  and  devastation  like  dolts.  They  left  their  dead  on  the  field,  without 
burial.  Four  thousand  men  had  joined  within  Delphi,  when  the  Gallic  bands, 
in  the  morning,  began  to  mount  the  narrow  and  rough  incline  which  led  up 
to  the  town.  The  Greeks  rained  down  from  above  a  deluge  of  stones  and 
other  missiles.  The  Gauls  recoiled,  but  recovered  themselves.  The  besieged 
fell  back  on  the  nearest  streets  of  the  town,  leaving  open  the  approach  to  the 
temple,  upon  which  the  barbarians  threw  themselves.  The  pillage  of  the 
shrines  had  just  commenced  when  the  sky  looked  threatening;  a  storm  burst 
forth,  the  thunder  echoed,  the  rain  fell,  the  hail  rattled.  Readily  taking  ad¬ 
vantage  of  this  incident,  the  priests  and  the  augurs  sallied  from  the  temple 
clothed  in  their  sacred  garments,  with  hair  disheveled  and  sparkling  eyes, 
proclaiming  the  advent  of  the  god.  Hearing  the  cries  and  the  roar  of  the 
tempest,  the  Greeks  dash  on,  the  Gauls  are  panic-stricken,  and  rush  headlong 
down  the  hill.  The  Greeks  push  on  in  pursuit.  The  rout  was  speedy  and 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


7 


general ;  the  barbarians  rushed  to  the  cover  of  their  camp ;  but  the  camp  was 
attacked  next  morning  by  the  Greeks  from  the  town  and  by  reinforcements 
from  the  country  places.  Brennus  and  the  picked  warriors  about  him  made  a 
gallant  resistance,  but  defeat  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  Brennus  was 
wounded,  and  his  comrades  bore  him  off  the  field.  Brennus  summoned  his 
comrades;  “  Kill  all  the  wounded  and  me,”  said  he;  “  burn  your  cars;  make 
Cichor  king  ;  and  away  at  full  speed.”  Then  he  called  for  wine,  drank  him¬ 
self  drunk,  and  stabbed  himself.  About  278  B.  c.  the  Gauls  crossed  the 
Hellespont  and  passed  into  Asia  Minor.  There,  at  one  time  in  the  pay  of 
the  kings  of  Bithynia,  Pergamos,  Cappadocia,  and  Syria,  or  of  the  free  commer¬ 
cial  cities,  at  another  carrying  on  wars  on  their  own  account,  they  wandered 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  divided  into  three  great  hordes  which  parceled 
out  the  territories  among  themselves,  and  by  their  bravery  became  the  terror 
of  these  effeminate  populations  and  the  arbiters  of  these  petty  states. 

Antiochus,  King  of  Syria,  attacked  one  of  the  three  bands — that  of  the 
Tectosagians,  conquered  it,  and  cantoned  it  in  a  district  of  Upper  Phrygia. 
Later  still,  about  241  B.  C.,  Eumenes,  sovereign  of  Pergamos,  and  Attalus,  his 
successor,  drove  and  shut  up  the  other  two  bands,  the  Tolistoboians  and 
Trocmians,  likewise  in  the  same  region.  The  victories  of  Attalus  over  the 
Gauls  excited  veritable  enthusiasm.  He  was  celebrated  as  a  special  envoy 
from  Zeus.  He  took  the  title  of  King,  which  his  predecessors  had  not  hith¬ 
erto  borne.  Forced  to  remain  stationary,  the  Gallic  hordes  became  a  people 
— the  Galatians — and  the  country  they  occupied  was  called  Galatia.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century  before  our  era,  the  Romans  had  entered 
Asia,  in  pursuit  of  their  great  enemy,  Hannibal.  They  had  just  beaten,  near 
Magnesia,  Antiochus,  King  of  Syria.  In  his  army  they  had  encountered  men 
of  lofty  stature,  with  hair  light  or  dyed  red,  half  naked,  marching  to  the 
fight  with  loud  cries,  and  terrible  at  the  first  onset.  They  recognized  the 
Gauls,  and  resolved  to  destroy  or  subdue  them.  The  consul,  Cn.  Manlius, 
had  the  duty  and  the  honor.  Attacked  in  their  strongholds  on  Mount 
Olympus  and  Mount  Magaba,  189  B.  c.,  the  three  Gallic  bands,  after  a  short 
but  stout  resistance,  were  conquered  and  subjugated;  and  thenceforth  losing 
all  national  importance,  they  amalgamated  little  by  little  with  the  Asiatic 
populations  around  them. 

P"rom  587  to  521  B.  c.  five  Gallic  expeditions  formed  of  Gallic,  Kymric, 
and  Ligurian  tribes,  followed  the  same  route  and  invaded  successively  the 
two  banks  of  the  Po — the  bottomless  river ,  as  they  called  it.  The  Etruscans 
could  not  make  head  against  the  new  conquerors,  aided,  may  be,  by  the  re¬ 
mains  of  the  old  population.  The  well-built  towns,  the  cultivation  of  the 
country,  the  ports  and  canals  that  had  been  dug,  nearly  all  these  labors  of 
Etruscan  civilization  disappeared  beneath  the  footsteps  of  these  barbarous 
hordes  that  knew  only  how  to  destroy. 

But  in  the  year  391  B.  c.,  finding  themselves  cooped  up  in  their  territory, 
a  strong  band  of  Gauls  crossed  the  Apennines,  and  went  to  demand  from  the 
Etruscans  of  Clusium  the  cession  of  a  portion  of  their  lands.  The  only  ans- 


8 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


wer  Clusium  made  was  to  close  her  gates.  The  Gauls  formed  up  around  the 
walls.  Clusium  asked  help  from  Rome,  with  whom,  notwithstanding  the 
rivalry  between  the  Etruscan  and  Roman  nations,  she  had  lately  been  on 
good  terms.  The  Romans  promised  first  their  good  offices  with  the  Gauls, 
afterwards  material  support. 

The  Gauls  left  the  siege  of  Clusium,  and  set  out  for  Rome,  not  stopping 
for  plunder,  and  proclaiming  everywhere  on  their  march,  “We  are  bound 
for  Rome;  we  make  war  on  none  but  Romans  ;  ”  and  when  they  encountered 
the  Roman  army,  on  the  16th  of  July,  390  B.  C.,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Allia 
and  the  Tiber,  half  a  day’s  march  from  Rome,  they  abruptly  struck  up  their 
war-chant,  and  threw  themselves  upon  their  enemies.  It  is  well  known 
how  they  gained  the  day  ;  how  they  entered  Rome,  and  found  none  but  a 
few  gray-beards.  All  the  other  people  of  Rome  had  fled,  and  were  wander¬ 
ing  over  the  country  or  seeking  a  refuge  amongst  neighboring  peoples.  Only 
the  Senate  and  a  thousand  warriors  had  shut  themselves  up  in  the  Capitol,  a 
citadel  which  commanded  the  city.  The  Gauls  kept  them  besieged  there  for 
seven  months.  On  the  13th  of  February,  389  B.  c.,  the  Gauls  allowed  their 
retreat  to  be  purchased  by  the  Romans  ;  and  they  experienced,  as  they  re¬ 
tired,  certain  checks  whereby  they  lost  a  part  of  their  booty.  But  twenty- 
three  years  afterwards  they  are  found  in  Latium  scouring  in  every  direction  the 
outlying  country  of  Rome,  without  the  Romans  daring  to  go  out  and  fight 
them.  It  was  only  at  the  end  of  five  years,  in  the  year  361  B.  c.,  that,  the 
very  city  being  menaced  anew,  the  legions  marched  out  to  meet  the  enemy. 
“  Surprised  at  this  audacity,”  says  Polybius,  the  Gauls  fell  back,  but  merely  a 
few  leagues  from  Rome,  to  the  environs  of  Tibur;  and  thence,  for  the  space 
of  twelve  years,  they  attacked  the  Roman  territory,  renewing  the  campaign 
every  year,  often  reaching  the  very  gates  of  the  city,  and  being  repulsed  in¬ 
deed,  but  never  farther  than  Tibur  and  its  slopes.  Then  commenced  the 
second  period  of  struggles  between  the  two  peoples.  Rome  had  taken  breath 
and  had  grown  much  more  rapidly  than  her  rivals.  Instead  of  shutting  her¬ 
self  up,  as  heretofore,  within  her  walls,  she  forthwith  raised  three  armies,  took 
the  offensive  against  the  coalitionists,  and  carried  the  war  into  their  territory. 
The  Etruscans  rushed  to  the  defence  of  their  hearths.  The  two  consuls, 
Fabius  and  Decius,  immediately  attacked  the  Samnites  and  Gauls  at  the  foot 
of  the  Apennines,  close  to  Sentinum.  The  battle  went  badly  for  the  Ro¬ 
mans  ;  several  legions  were  in  flight,  and  Decius  strove  vainly  to  rally  them. 

Decius  charged  into  the  middle  of  the  Gauls,  where  he  soon  fell  pierced 
with  wounds ;  but  the  Romans  recovered  courage  and  gained  the  day ;  for 
heroism  and  piety  have  power  over  the  hearts  of  men,  so  that  at  the  moment 
of  admiration  they  become  capable  of  imitation. 

During  the  second  period  Rome  was  more  than  once  in  danger.  In  the 
year  283  B.  C.,  the  Gauls  destroyed  one  of  her  armies  near  Arctium  (Arezzo), 
and  advanced  to  the  Roman  frontier,  saying,  “  We  are  bound  for  Rome  ;  the 
Gauls  know  how  to  take  it.”  Seventy-two  years  afterwards  the  Cisalpine 
Gauls  swore  they  would  not  put  off  their  baldrics  till  they  had  mounted  the 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


9 

Capitol,  and  they  arrived  within  three  days’  march  of  Rome.  At  every  ap¬ 
pearance  of  this  formidable  enemy  the  alarm  at  Rome  was  great. 

Rome,  during  the  course  of  this  period,  from  299  to  258  B.  C.,  maintained 
an  increasing  ascendency  over  the  Gauls.  She  always  cleared  them  off  her 
territory,  several  times  ravaged  theirs,  on  the  two  banks  of  the  Po,  called  re¬ 
spectively  Transpadan  and  Cispadan  Gaul,  and  gained  the  majority  of  the 
great  battles  she  had  to  fight.  Finally  in  the  year  283  B.  c.,  the  propraetor 
Drusus,  after  having  ravaged  the  country  of  the  Senonic  Gauls,  carried  off 
the  very  ingots  and  jewels,  it  was  said,  which  had  been  given  to  their  ances¬ 
tors  as  the  price  of  their  retreat. 

In  the  same  year  (283  B.  C.,)  several  Roman  families  arrived,  with  colors 
flying  and  under  the  guidance  of  three  triumvirs  or  commissioners,  on  a  ter¬ 
ritory  to  the  northeast,  on  the  borders  of  the  Adriatic.  The  triumvirs  had  a 
round  hole  dug,  and  there  deposited  some  fruits  and  a  handful  of  earth 
brought  from  Roman  soil  ;  then  yoking  to  a  plough,  having  a  copper  share, 
a  white  bull  and  a  white  heifer,  they  marked  out  by  a  furrow  a  large  enclos¬ 
ure.  The  rest  followed,  flinging  within  the  line  the  ridges  thrown  up  by  the 
plough.  When  the  line  was  finished,  the  bull  and  the  heifer  were  sacrificed 
with  due  pomp.  It  was  a  Roman  colony  come  to  settle  at  Sena,  on  the  very 
site  of  the  chief  town  of  those  Senonic  Gauls  who  had  been  conquered  and 
driven  out.  Fifteen  years  afterwards  another  Roman  colony  was  founded  at 
Ariminum  (Rimini)  on  the  frontier  of  the  Boi'an  Gauls.  Fifty  years  later 
still  two  others,  on  the  two  banks  of  the  Po,  Cremona  and  Placentia  (Plais- 
ance).  Rome  had  then,  in  the  midst  of  her  enemies,  garrisons,  magazines  of 
arms  and  provisions,  and  means  of  supervision  and  communication. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  third  century  before  our  era,  the  triumph  of 
Rome  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  seemed  nigh  to  accomplishment,  when  news  arrived 
that  the  Romans’  most  formidable  enemy,  Hannibal,  meditating  a  passage 
from  Africa  into  Italy  by  Spain  and  Gaul,  was  already  at  work,  by  his  emis¬ 
saries,  to  ensure  for  his  enterprise  the  concurrence  of  the  Transalpine  and  Cis¬ 
alpine  Gauls.  The  Senate  ordered  the  envoys  they  had  just  then  at  Car¬ 
thage  to  traverse  Gaul  on  returning,  and  seek  out  allies  there  against 
Hannibal.  The  envoys  halted  amongst  the  Gallo-Iberian  peoplets  who  lived 
at  the  foot  of  the  eastern  Pyrenees.  There,  in  the  midst  of  the  warriors  as¬ 
sembled  in  arms,  they  charged  them  in  the  name  of  the  great  and  powerful 
Roman  people,  not  to  suffer  the  Carthaginians  to  pass  through  their  terri¬ 
tory.  Tumultuous  laughter  arose  at  a  request  that  appeared  so  strange. 
“  You  wish  us,”  was  the  answer,  “  to  draw  down  war  upon  ourselves  to  avert 
it  from  Italy,  and  to  give  our  own  fields  over  to  devastation  to  save  yours. 
We  hear  that  the  Roman  people  drive  out  from  their  lands,  in  Italy,  men  of 
our  nation,  impose  tribute  upon  them,  and  make  them  undergo  other  indig¬ 
nities.”  So  the  envoys  of  Rome  quitted  Gaul  without  allies. 

However,  the  delights  of  victory  and  of  pillage  at  last  brought  into  full 
play  the  Cisalpine  Gauls’  natural  hatred  of  Rome.  At  the  battle  of  Lake 
Trasimene  Hannibal  lost  1500  men,  nearly  all  Gauls  ;  at  that  of  Cannae  he  had 


10 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


30,000  of  them,  forming  two-thirds  of  his  army  ;  and  at  the  moment  of  action 
they  cast  away  their  tunics  and  chequered  cloaks  and  fought  naked  from  the 
belt  upwards,  according  to  their  custom  when  they  meant  to  conquer  or  die. 
Of  5500  men  that  the  victory  of  Cannae  cost  Hannibal,  4000  were  Gauls. 

This  was  the  third  period  of  the  struggle  between  the  Gauls  and  the  Ro¬ 
mans  in  Italy.  Rome,  well  advised  by  this  terrible  war  of  the  danger  with 
which  she  was  ever  menaced  by  the  Cisalpine  Gauls,  formed  the  resolution  of 
no  longer  restraining  them,  but  of  subduing  them  and  conquering  their  terri¬ 
tory.  She  spent  thirty  years  (from  200  to  170  B.  c.)  in  the  execution  of  this 
design,  proceeding  by  means  of  war,  of  founding  Roman  colonies,  and  of  sow¬ 
ing  dissension  amongst  the  Gallic  peoplets. 

The  Senate,  with  its  usual  wisdom,  multiplied  the  number  of  Roman  col¬ 
onies  in  the  conquered  territory,  treated  with  moderation  the  tribes  that  sub¬ 
mitted,  and  gave  to  Cisalpine  Gaul  the  name  of  the  Cisalpine  or  Hither 
Gallic  Province,  which  was  afterwards  changed  for  that  of  Gallia  Togata  or 
Roman  Gaul.  Then,  declaring  that  Nature  herself  had  placed  the  Alps  be¬ 
tween  Gaul  and  Italy  as  an  insurmountable  barrier,  the  Senate  pronounced  “a 
curse  on  whosoever  should  attempt  to  cross  it.” 

THE  ROMANS  IN  GAUL. 

It  was  Rome  herself  that  soon  crossed  that  barrier  of  the  Alps  which 
she  had  pronounced  fixed  by  nature  and  insurmountable.  Scarcely  was  she 
mistress  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  when  she  entered  upon  a  quarrel  with  the  tribes 
which  occupied  the  mountain-passes.  With  an  unsettled  frontier,  and 
between  neighbors  of  whom  one  is  ambitious  and  the  other  barbarian,  pre¬ 
texts  and  even  causes  are  never  wanting.  The  Romans  penetrated  into  the 
hamlets,  carried  off  flocks  and  people,  and  sold  them  in  the  public  markets  at 
Cremona,  at  Placentia,  and  in  all  their  colonies. 

The  Gauls  of  the  Alps  demanded  succor  of  the  Transalpine  Gauls, 
applying  to  a  powerful  chieftain,  named  Cincibil,  whose  influence  extended 
throughout  the  mountains.  But  the  terror  of  the  Roman  name  had  reached 
across.  Cincibil  sent  to  Rome  a  deputation,  with  his  brother  at  their  head, 
to  set  forth  the  grievances  of  the  mountaineers,  and  especially  to  complain  of 
the  consul  Cassius.  Without  making  any  concession,  the  Senate  was 
gracious.  Cassius  was  away ;  he  must  be  waited  for.  Meanwhile  the  Gauls 
were  well  treated  ;  Cincibil  and  his  brother  received  as  presents  two  golden 
collars,  five  silver  vases,  two  horses  fully  caparisoned,  and  Roman  dresses  for 
all  their  suite.  Still  nothing  was  done. 

Another,  a  greater  and  more  decisive  opportunity  offered  itself.  Mar 
seilles  was  an  ally  of  the  Romans.  As  the  rival  of  Carthage,  and  with  the 
Gauls  for  ever  at  her  gates,  she  had  need  of  Rome  by  sea  and  land.  She 
pretended,  also,  to  the  most  eminent  and  intimate  friendship  with  Rome. 
Her  founder,  the  Phocean  Euxenes,  had  gone  to  Rome,  it  was  said,  and  con¬ 
cluded  a  treaty  with  Tarquinius  Priscus.  She  had  gone  into  mourning  when 
Rome  was  burnt  by  the  Gauls ;  she  had  ordered  a  public  levy  to  aid  towards 


305  a.d.]  FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS.  u 

the  ransom  of  the  Capitol.  Rome  did  not  dispute  these  claims  to  remem¬ 
brance.  The  friendship  of  Marseilles  was  of  great  use  to  her.  Towards  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  B.  C.,  Marseilles  was  at  war  with  certain  Gallic 
tribes,  her  neighbors,  whose  territory  she  coveted.  Two  of  her  colonies, 
Nice  and  Antibes,  were  threatened.  She  called  on -Rome  for  help.  A 
Roman  deputation  went  to  decide  the  quarrel ;  but  the  Gauls  refused  to 
obey  its  summons,  and  treated  it  with  insolence.  The  deputation  returned 
with  an  army,  succeeded  in  beating  the  refractory  tribes,  and  gave  their  land 
to  the  Massilians.  The  same  thing  occurred  repeatedly  with  the  same  result. 
In  the  year  123  B.  C.,  at  some  leagues  to  the  north  of  the  Greek  city,  near  a 
little  river,  then  called  the  Coenus  and  now-a-days  the  Arc,  the  consul  C. 
Sextius  Calvinus  had  noticed,  during  his  campaign,  an  abundance  of 
thermal  springs,  agreeably  situated  amidst  wood-covered  hills.  There  he 
constructed  an  enclosure,  aqueducts,  baths,  houses,  a  town  in  fact,  which  he 
called  after  himself  Aqucz  Sextice ,  the  modern  Aix,  the  first  Roman  establish¬ 
ment  in  Transalpine  Gaul.  As  in  the  case  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  with  Roman 
colonies  came  Roman  intrigue  and  dissensions  got  up  and  fomented  amongst 
the  Gauls.  The  Gauls  ran  of  themselves  into  the  Roman  trap.  Two  of 
their  confederations,  the  yEduans,  and  the  Allobrogians,  who  were  settled 
between  the  Alps,  the  Isere,  and  the  Rhone,  were  at  war.  A  third  confeder¬ 
ation,  the  most  powerful  in  Gaul  at  this  time,  the  Arvernians,  who  were 
rivals  of  the  vEduans,  gave  their  countenance  to  the  Allobrogians.  The 
consul  Domitius  forthwith  commanded  the  Allobrogians  to  respect  the  terri¬ 
tory  of  the  allies  of  Rome.  The  Allobrogians  rose  up  in  arms  and  claimed 
the  aid  of  the  Arvernians.  Bituitus,  King  of  the  Arvernians,  was  for  trying 
accommodation.  He  was  a  powerful  and  wealthy  chieftain.  War  broke 
out ;  the  Allobrogians,  with  the  usual  confidence  and  hastiness  of  all  bar¬ 
barians,  attacked  alone,  without  waiting  for  the  Arvernians,  and  were  beaten 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Sorgue,  a  little  above  Avignon. 
The  next  year,  12 1  B.  c.,  the  Arvernians  in  their  turn  descended  from  the 
mountains,  and  crossed  the  Rhone  with  all  their  tribes,  diversely  armed  and 
clad,  and  ranged  each  about  its  own  chieftain. 

The  Arvernians  then  were  beaten,  as  the  Allobrogians  had  been.  Rome 
treated  the  Arvernians  with  consideration  ;  but  the  Allobrogians  lost  their 
existence  as  a  nation.  The  Senate  declared  them  subject  to  the  Roman  peo¬ 
ple  ;  and  all  the  country  comprised  between  the  Alps,  the  Rhone  from  its 
entry  into  the  Lake  of  Geneva  to  its  mouth,  and  the  Mediterranean,  was 
made  a  Roman  consular  province,  which  means  that  every  year  a  consul 
must  march  thither  with  his  army.  In  the  three  following  years,  indeed,  the 
consuls  extended  the  boundaries  of  the  new  province,  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Rhone,  to  the  frontier  of  the  Pyrenees  southward.  In  the  year  115 
B.  c.,  a  colony  of  Roman  citizens  was  conductod  to  Narbonne,  a  town  even 
then  of  importance,  in  spite  of  the  objections  made  by  certain  senators 
who  were  unwilling,  say  the  historians,  so  to  expose  Roman  citizens  “to 
the  waves  of  barbarism.”  This  was  the  second  colony  which  went  and 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


12 


[600  B.C. 


established  itself  out  of  Italy  ;  the  first  had  been  founded  on  the  ruins  of 
Carthage. 

Having  thus  completed  their  conquest,  the  Senate,  to  render  possession 
safe  and  sure,  decreed  the  occupation  of  the  passes  of  the  Alps  which 
opened  Gaul  to  Italy*.  All  the  chief  defiles  of  the  Alps  fell  into  its  hands. 
Less  than  sixty  years  after  Cisalpine  Gaul  had  been  reduced  to  a  Roman 
province,  Rome  possessed,  in  Transalpine  Gaul,  a  second  province,  whither 
she  sent  her  armies,  and  where  she  established  her  citizens  without  obstruc¬ 
tion. 

In  the  year  113  B.  C.,  there  appeared  to  the  north  of  the  Adriatic,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Danube,  an  immense  multitude  of  barbarians,  ravaging 
Noricum  and  threatening  Italy.  Two  nations  predominated;  the  Kymrians 
or  Cimbrians,  and  the  Teutons,  the  national  name  of  the  Germans.  A  violent 
shock  of  earthquake,  a  terrible  inundation,  had  driven  them,  they  said,  from 
their  homes;  and  those  countries  do  indeed  show  traces  of  such  events. 
And  Cimbrians  and  Teutons  had  been  for  some  time  roaming  over  Germany. 

The  consul  Papirius  Carbo,  despatched  in  all  haste  to  defend  the 
frontier,  bade  them,  in  the  name  of  the  Roman  people,  to  withdraw.  The 
barbarians  modestly  replied  that  “  they  had  no  intention  of  settling  in 
Noricum,  and  if  the  Romans  had  rights  over  the  country,  they  would  carry 
their  arms  else-whither.”  The  consul,  who  had  found  haughtiness  succeed, 
thought  he  might  also  employ  perfidy  against  the  barbarians.  He  offered 
guides  to  conduct  them  out  of  Noricum  ;  and  the  guides  misled  them.  The 
consul  attacked  them  unexpectedly  during  the  night,  and  was  beaten. 

They  roamed  for  three  years  along  the  Danube,  as  far  as  the  mountains 
of  Macedonia  and  Thrace.  Then  retracing  their  steps,  and  marching  east¬ 
ward,  they  inundated  the  valleys  of  the  Helvetic  Alps,  now  Switzerland,  hav¬ 
ing  their  numbers  swelled  by  other  tribes,  Gallic  or  German,  who  preferred 
joining  in  pillage  to  undergoing  it.  The  Ambrons  joined  the  Cimbrians  and 
Teutons  ;  and  in  the  year  1 10  B.  c.,  all  together  entered  Gaul,  at  first  by  way 
of  Belgica,  and  then,  continuing  their  wanderings  and  ravages  in  central 
Gaul,  they  at  last  reached  the  Rhone,  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Roman  prov¬ 
ince.  There  the  name  of  Rome  again  arrested  their  progress;  they  applied 
to  her  anew  for  lands,  with  the  offer  of  their  services.  M.  Silanus  attacked 
them  in  their  camp,  and  was  beaten. 

Three  consuls,  L.  Cassius,  C.  Servilius  Caepio,  and  Cn.  Manlius,  succes¬ 
sively  experienced  the  same  fate.  The  barbarians  did  not  dare  to  decide 
upon  invading  Italy  ;  but  they  freely  scoured  the  Roman  province,  meeting 
here  with  repulse,  and  there  with  reinforcement  from  the  peoplets  who 
formed  the  inhabitants.  The  Tectosagian  Voles,  Kymrian  in  origin  and 
maltreated  by  Rome,  joined  them.  Then,  on  a  sudden,  whilst  the  Teutons 
and  Ambrons  remained  in  Gaul,  the  Kymrians  passed  over  to  Spain,  without 
apparent  motive,  and  probably  as  an  overswollen  torrent  divides,  and  dis¬ 
perses  its  waters  in  all  directions.  There  was  but  one  man,  it  was  said,  who 
could  avert  the  danger,  and  give  Rome  the  ascendancy.  It  was  Marius,  low- 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


13 


born,  but  already  illustrious ;  esteemed  by  the  Senate  for  his  genius  as  a 
commander  and  for  his  victories. 

He  was  consul  in  Africa,  where  he  was  putting  an  end  to  the  war  with 
Jugurtha.  He  was  elected  a  second  time  consul,  without  interval  and  in  his 
absence,  contrary  to  all  the  laws  of  the  Republic.  Scarcely  had  he  returned, 
when,  on  descending  from  the  Capitol,  where  he  had  just  received  a  triumph 
for  having  conquered  and  captured  Jugurtha,  he  set  out  for  Gaul.  On  his 
arrival,  instead  of  proceeding,  as  his  predecessors,  to  attack  the  barbarians  at 
once,  he  confined  himself  to  organizing  and  inuring  his  troops,  subjecting 
them  to  frequent  marches,  all  kinds  of  military  exercises,  and  long  and  hard 
labor.  To  insure  supplies  he  made  them  dig,  towards  the  mouths  of  the 
Rhone,  a  large  canal  which  formed  a  junction  with  the  river  a  little  above 
Arles,  and  which,  at  its  entrance  into  the  sea,  offered  good  harborage  for 
vessels.  Trained  in  this  severe  school,  the  soldiers  acquired  such  a  reputa¬ 
tion  for  sobriety  and  laborious  assiduity,  that  they  were  proverbially  called 
Marius  mules .  Two  years  rolled  on  in  this  fashion  ;  and  yet  Marius  would 
not  move. 

It  was  at  Rome,  in  the  year  102  B.  c.,  that  he  learned  how  the  Kymrians, 
weary  of  Spain,  had  recrossed  the  Pyrenees,  rejoined  their  old  comrades, 
and  had  at  last  resolved,  in  concert,  to  invade  Italy  ;  the  Kymrians  from  the 
north,  by  way  of  Helvetia  and  Noricum,  the  Teutons  and  Ambrons  from  the 
south,  by  way  of  the  maritime  Alps.  At  this  news  Marius  returned  forth¬ 
with  to  Gaul,  and,  without  troubling  himself  about  the  Kymrians,  who  had 
really  put  themselves  in  motion  towards  the  northeast,  he  placed  his  camp 
so  as  to  cover  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  two  Roman  roads  which  crossed 
at  Arles,  and  by  one  of  which  the  Ambro-Teutons  must  necessarily  pass  to 
enter  Italy  on  the  south. 

They  soon  appeared  “  in  immense  numbers,”  say  the  historians,  “  with 
their  hideous  looks  and  their  wild  cries,”  drawing  up  their  chariots  and  plant¬ 
ing  their  tents  in  front  of  the  Roman  camp.  They  showered  upon  Marius 
and  his  soldiers  continual  insult  and  defiance.  “  It  is  no  question,”  said  he, 
with  his  simple  and  convincing  common  sense,  “  of  gaining  triumphs  and 
trophies  ;  it  is  a  question  of  averting  this  storm  of  war  and  of  saving  Italy.” 
The  most  distinguished  of  his  officers,  young  Sertorius,  who  understood  and 
spoke  Gallic  well,  penetrated,  in  the  disguise  of  a  Gaul,  into  the  camp  of  the 
Ambrons,  and  informed  Marius  of  what  was  going  on  there. 

At  last  the  barbarians,  in  their  impatience,  having  vainly  attempted  to 
storm  the  Roman  camp,  struck  their  own,  and  put  themselves  in  motion 
towards  the  Alps.  For  six  whole  days,  it  is  said,  their  bands  were  defiling 
beneath  the  ramparts  of  the  Romans. 

Marius,  too,  struck  his  camp,  and  followed  them.  They  halted,  both  of 
them,  near  Aix,  on  the  borders  of  the  Coenus,  the  barbarians  in  the  valley, 
Marius  on  a  hill  which  commanded  it.  The  ardor  of  the  Romans  was  at  its 
height ;  it  was  warm  weather ;  there  was  a  want  of  water  on  the  hill,  and  the 
soldiers  murmured.  “You  are  men,”  said  Marius,  pointing  to  the  river  be- 


H 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


low,  “and  there  is  water  to  be  bought  with  blood.”  “  Why  don’t  you  lead 
us  against  them  at  once,  then,”  said  a  soldier,  “whilst  we  still  have  blood  in 
our  veins?”  “We  must  first  fortify  our  camp,”  answered  Marius  quietly. 

The  soldiers  obeyed :  but  the  hour  of  battle  had  come,  and  well  did 
Marius  know  it.  It  commenced  on  the  brink  of  the  Coenus,  between  some 
Ambrons  who  were  bathing  and  some  Roman  slaves  gone  down  to  draw 
water.  When  the  whole  horde  of  Ambrons  advanced  to  the  battle,  shouting 
their  warcry  of  Ambra  !  Ambra  !  a  body  of  Gallic  auxiliaries  in  the  Roman 
army,  and  in  the  first  rank,  heard  them  with  great  amazement ;  for  it  was 
their  own  name  and  their  own  cry ;  there  were  tribes  of  Ambrons  in  the  Alps 
subjected  to  Rome  as  well  as  in  the  Helvetic  Alps;  and  Ambra  !  Ambra  ! 
resounded  on  both  sides. 

The  battle  lasted  two  days,  the  first  against  the  Ambrons,  the  second 
against  the  Teutons.  Both  were  beaten,  in  spite  of  their  savage  bravery,  and 
the  equal  bravery  of  their  women,  who  defended,  with  indomitable  obstinacy, 
the  cars  with  which  they  had  remained  almost  alone,  in  charge  of  the  children 
and  the  booty.  The  carnage  was  great,  for  the  battle-field,  where  all  these 
corpses  rested  without  burial,  rotting  in  the  sun  and  rain,  got  the  name  of 
Campi  Putridi ,  or  Fields  of  Putrefaction,  a  name  traceable  even  now-a-days  in 
that  of  Pourrieres ,  a  neighboring  village. 

The  Ambrons  and  Teutons  beaten,  there  remained  the  Kymrians. 
Marius  marched  against  them  in  July  of  the  following  year,  101  B.  C.  Igno¬ 
rant  of  what  had  occurred  in  Gaul,  and  possessed,  as  ever,  with  the  desire  of  a 
settlement,  they  again  sent  to  him  a  deputation,  saying,  “  Give  us  lands  and 
towns  for  us  and  our  brethren.”  “What  brethren?”  asked  Marius.  “The 
Teutons.”  The  Romans  who  were  about  Marius  began  to  laugh.  “  Let  your 
brethren  be,”  said  Marius ;  “  they  have  land,  and  will  always  have  it ;  they 
received  it  from  us.”  The  Kymrians,  perceiving  the  irony  of  his  tone,  burst 
out  into  threats,  telling  Marius  that  he  should  suffer  for  it  at  their  hands  first, 
and  afterwards  at  those  of  the  Teutons  when  they  arrived.  “They  are  here,’’ 
rejoined  Marius ;  “you  must  not  depart  without  saluting  your  brethren  ;  ’’ 
and  he  had  Teutobod,  King  of  the  Teutons,  brought  out  with  other  captive 
chieftains.  The  envoys  reported  the  sad  news  in  their  own  camp,  and  three 
days  afterwards,  July  30th,  a  great  battle  took  place  between  the  Kymrians 
and  the  Romans  in  the  Raudine  Plains,  a  large  tract  near  Verceil,  and  the 
Gauls  were  beaten. 

The  victories  of  Marius  arrested  the  torrent,  but  did  not  dry  up  its  source. 
The  great  movement  which  drove  from  Asia  to  Europe,  and  from  eastern  to 
western  Europe,  masses  of  roving  populations,  followed  its  course,  bringing 
incessantly  upon  the  Roman  frontiers  new-comers  and  new  perils. 


GAUL  CONQUERED  BY  JULIUS  C^SAR. 


In  spite  of  the  victories  of  Marius,  and  the  destruction  or  dispersion  of 
the  Teutons  and  Cimbrians,  the  whole  of  Gaul  remained  seriously  disturbed 
and  threatened.  In  the  war  with  the  confederation  of  the  Miduans,  that  of 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


15 


the  Arvernians  called  to  their  aid  the  German  Ariovistus.  He  with  15,000 
warriors  at  his  back,  was  not  slow  in  responding  to  the  appeal.  The  Aiduans 
were  beaten ;  and  Ariovistus  settled  amongst  the  Gauls  who  had  been 
thoughtless  enough  to  appeal  to  him.  Numerous  bands  of  Suevians  came 
and  rejoined  him  ;  and  in  two  or  three  years  after  his  victory  he  had  about 
him,  it  was  said,  120,000  warriors.  One  of  the  foremost  Aiduans,  Divitiacus 
by  name,  went  and  invoked  the  succor  of  the  Roman  people,  the  patrons  of 
his  confederation.  He  received  kindly  promises,  which  at  first  remained 
without  fruit.  He,  however,  remained  at  Rome,  persistent  in  his  solicitations, 
and  carrying  on  intercourse  with  several  Romans  of  consideration,  notably 
with  Cicero,  who  says  of  him,  “  I  knew  Divitiacus,  the  Aiduan,  who  claimed 
proficiency  in  that  natural  science  which  the  Greeks  call  physiology,  and  he 
predicted  the  future,  either  by  augury  or  his  own  conjecture. ”  The  Roman 
Senate  hesitated  to  engage,  for  the  Hiduans’  sake,  in  a  war  against  the  invaders 
of  a  corner  of  Gallic  territory.  At  the  same  time  that  they  gave  a  cordial 
welcome  to  Divitiacus,  they  entered  into  negotiations  with  Ariovistus  himself  ; 
they  gave  him  beautiful  presents,  the  title  of  King ,  and  even  of  friend ;  the 
only  demand  they  made  was  that  he  should  live  peaceably  in  his  new  settle¬ 
ment,  and  not  lend  his  support  to  the  fresh  invasions  of  which  there  were 
symptoms  in  Gaul. 

A  people  of  Gallic  race,  the  Helvetians,  who  inhabited  present  Switzer¬ 
land,  where  the  old  name  still  abides  beside  the  modern,  found  themselves 
incessantly  threatened,  ravaged,  and  invaded  by  the  German  tribes  which 
pressed  upon  their  frontiers.  After  some  years  of  perplexity  and  internal 
discord,  the  whole  Helvetic  nation  decided  upon  abandoning  its  territory,  and 
going  to  seek  in  Gaul,  westward,  on  the  borders  of  the  ocean,  a  more  tranquil 
settlement.  Being  informed  of  this  design,  the  Roman  Senate  and  Caesar 
resolved  to  protect  the  Roman  province  and  their  Gallic  allies,  the  Aiduans, 
against  the  inundation  of  roving  neighbors.  The  Helvetians  none  the  less 
persisted  in  their  plan  ;  and  in  the  spring  of  the  year  of  Rome  696  (58  B.  c.) 
they  committed  to  the  flames,  in  the  country  they  were  about  to  leave,  twelve 
towns,  four  hundred  villages,  and  all  their  houses  ;  loaded  their  cars  with  pro¬ 
visions  for  three  months,  and  agreed  to  meet  at  the  southern  point  of  the 
Lake  of  Geneva.  But  when  the  Helvetians  would  have  entered  Gaul,  they 
found  there  Caesar,  who,  after  having  got  himself  appointed  pro-consul  for  five 
y:ars,  had  arrived  suddenly  at  Geneva,  prepared  to  forbid  their  passage. 
They  sent  to  him  a  deputation,  to  ask  leave,  they  said,  merely  to  traverse  the 
Roman  province  without  causing  the  least  damage.  He  employed  his  legion¬ 
aries,  who  could  work  as  well  as  fight,  in  erecting  upon  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhone  a  wall  sixteen  feet  high  and  ten  miles  long,  which  rendered  the  passage 
of  the  river  very  difficult,  and,  on  the  return  of  the  Helvetian  envoys,  he 
formally  forbade  them  to  pass  by  the  road  they  had  proposed  to  follow. 
They  attempted  to  take  another,  and  to  cross  not  the  Rhone  but  the  Saone, 
and  marched  thence  towards  western  Gaul.  But  whilst  they  were  arranging 
for  the  execution  of  this  movement,  Caesar,  who  had  up  to  that  time  only 


1 6 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


four  legions  at  his  disposal,  returned  to  Italy,  brought  away  five  fresh  legions, 
and  arrived  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Saone  at  the  moment  when  the  rear-guard 
of  the  Helvetians  was  embarking  to  rejoin  the  main  body  which  had  already 
pitched  its  camp  on  the  right  bank.  Caesar  cut  to  pieces  this  rear-guard, 
crossed  the  river,  in  his  turn,  with  his  legions,  pursued  the  emigrants  without 
relaxation,  came  in  contact  with  them  on  several  occasions,  at  one  time  at¬ 
tacking  them  or  repelling  their  attacks,  at  another  receiving  and  giving  audi¬ 
ence  to  their  envoys  without  ever  consenting  to  treat  with  them,  and  before 
the  end  of  the  year  he  had  so  completely  beaten,  decimated,  dispersed  and 
driven  them  back,  that  of  368,000  Helvetians  who  had  entered  Gaul,  but  110,- 
000  escaped  from  the  Romans,  and  were  enabled,  by  flight,  to  regain  their 
country. 

Hiduans,  Sequanians,  or  Arvernians,  all  the  Gauls  interested  in  the  strug¬ 
gle  thus  terminated,  were  eager  to  congratulate  Caesar  upon  his  victory  ; 
Ariovistus  and  the  Germans,  who  were  settled  upon  their  territory,  oppressed 
them  cruelly,  and  day  by  day  fresh  bands  were  continually  coming  to  aggra¬ 
vate  the  evil  and  the  danger.  They  adjured  Caesar  to  protect  them  from 
these  swarms  of  barbarians.  “  In  a  few  years,”  said  they,  “  all  the  Germans 
will  have  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  all  the  Gauls  will  be  driven  from  Gaul,  for 
the  soil  of  Germany  cannot  compare  with  that  of  Gaul,  any  more  than  the 
mode  of  life.  If  Caesar  and  the  Roman  people  refuse  to  aid  us,  there  is 
nothing  left  for  us  but  to  abandon  our  lands,  as  the  Helvetians  would  have 
done  in  their  case,  and  go  seek,  afar  from  the  Germans,  another  dwelling- 
place.”  Caesar  proposed  to  Ariovistus  an  interview  “  at  which  they  might 
treat  in  common  of  affairs  of  importance  for  both.”  Ariovistus  replied  that 
“  if  he  wanted  anything  of  .Caesar,  he  would  go  in  search  of  him  ;  if  Caesar 
had  business  with  him,  it  was  for  Caesar  to  come.”  Caesar  thereupon  con¬ 
veyed  to  him  by  messenger  his  express  injunctions,  “  not  to  summon  any 
more  from  the  borders  of  the  Rhine  fresh  multitudes  of  men,  and  to  cease 
from  vexing  the  HLduans  and  making  war  on  them,  them  and  their  allies. 
Otherwise,  Caesar  would  not  fail  to  avenge  their  wrongs.”  Ariovistus  replied 
that  “  he  had  conquered  the  Hiduans.”  At  the  moment  he  received  this 
answer  Caesar  had  just  heard  that  fresh  bands  of  Suevians  were  encamped  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  ready  to  cross,  and  that  Ariovistus  with  all  his 
forces  was  making  towards  Vesontio  (Besangon),  the  chief  town  of  the  Sequan¬ 
ians.  Caesar  forthwith  put  himself  in  moti-on,  occupied  Vesontio,  established 
there  a  strong  garrison,  and  made  [his  arrangements  for  issuing  from  it  with 
his  legions  to  go  and  anticipate  the  attack  of  Ariovistus.  Caesar  summoned 
a  great  council  of  war,  to  which  he  called  the  chief  officers  of  his  legions ;  he 
complained  bitterly  of  their  alarm,  recalled  to  their  memory  their  recent  suc¬ 
cess  against  the  Helvetians,  and  scoffed  at  the  rumors  spread  about  the 
Germans,  and  at  the  doubts  with  which  there  was  an  attempt  to  inspire  him 
about  the  fidelity  and  obedience  of  his  troops. 

The  cheers  of  the  troops,  officers  and  men,  were  the  answer  given  to  the 
reproaches  and  hopes  of  their  general ;  all  hesitation  passed  away  ;  and  Caesar 


3C5  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


1 7 


set  out  with  his  army.  He  fetched  a  considerable  compass,  and,  after  a  seven 
days’  march,  arrived  at  a  short  distance  from  the  camp  of  Ariovistus.  On 
learning  that  Caesar  was  already  so  near,  the  German  sent  to  him  a  messenger 
with  proposals  for  the  interview  which  was  but  lately  demanded,  and  to  which 
there  was  no  longer  any  obstacle,  since  Caesar  had  himself  arrived  upon  the 
spot.  And  the  interview  really  took  place,  with  mutual  precautions  for 
safety  and  warlike  dignity.  Caesar  repeated  all  the  demands  he  had  made 
upon  Ariovistus,  who,  in  his  turn,  maintained  his  refusal,  asking,  “  What  was 
wanted  ?  Why  had  foot  been  set  upon  his  lands  ?  That  part  of  Gaul  was  his 
province ,  just  as  the  other  was  the  Roman  province .”  Ultimately  some  horse¬ 
men  in  the  escort  of  Ariovistus  began  to  caracole  towards  the  Romans,  and 
to  hurl  at  them  stones  and  darts.  Caesar  ordered  his  men  to  make  no  reprisals, 
and  broke  off  the  conference.  The  next  day  but  one  Ariovistus  proposed  a 
renewal ;  but  Caesar  refused,  having  decided  to  bring  the  quarrel  to  an  issue. 
Several  days  in  succession  he  led  out  his  legions  from  their  camp,  and  offered 
battle;  but  Ariovistus  remained  within  his  lines.  Caesar  then  took  the  reso¬ 
lution  of  assailing  the  German  camp.  At  his  approach,  the  Germans  at 
length  moved  out  from  their  entrenchments,  and  defiled  in  front  of  cars  filled 
with  their  women,  who  implored  them  with  tears  not  to  deliver  them  in 
slavery  to  the  Romans.  The  struggle  was  obstinate,  and  not  without  mo¬ 
ments  of  anxiety  and  partial  check  for  the  Romans ;  but  the  genius  of  Caesar 
and  strict  discipline  of  the  legions  carried  the  day.  The  rout  of  the  Germans 
was  complete.  The  Suevian  bands,  who  were  awaiting  on  the  right  bank  the 
result  of  the  struggle,  plunged  back  again  within  their  own  territory.  And 
so  the  invasion  of  the  Germans  was  stopped  as  the  emigration  of  the  Helve¬ 
tians  had  been  ;  and  Caesar  had  only  to  conquer  Gaul. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Helvetian  emigrants  and  of  the  German  invaders 
left  the  Romans  and  Gauls  alone  face  to  face  ;  and  from  that  moment  the 
Romans  were,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Gauls,  foreigners,  conquerors,  oppressors. 
Their  deeds  aggravated  day  by  day  the  feelings  excited  by  the  situation  ; 
everywhere  they  assumed  the  mastery:  they  laid  heavy  burdens  upon  the 
population ;  they  removed  the  rightful  chieftains  who  were  opposed  to  them, 
and  forcibly  placed  or  maintained  in  power  those  only  who  were  subservient 
to  them.  During  nine  years,  from  A.  U.  C.  696  to  705,  and  in  eight  successive 
campaigns,  Caesar  carried  his  troops,  his  lieutenants,  himself,  and,  ere  long, 
war  or  negotiation,  corruption,  discord,  or  destruction  in  his  path,  amongst 
the  different  nations  and  confederations  of  Gaul,  Celtic,  Kymric,  Germanic, 
Iberian  or  Hybrid,  northward  and  eastward,  in  Belgica,  between  the  Seine 
and  the  Rhine ;  westward,  in  Armorica,  on  the  borders  of  the  Ocean  ;  south- 
westward,  in  Aquitania ;  centre-ward,  amongst  the  peoplets  established 
between  the  Seine,  the  Loire,  and  the  Saone.  He  was  nearly  always  victori¬ 
ous,  and  then  at  one  time  he  pushed  his  victory  to  the  bitter  end,  at  another 
stopped  at  the  right  moment,  that  it  might  not  be  compromised.  When  he 
experienced  reverses,  he  bore  them  without  repining,  and  repaired  them  with 
inexhaustible  ability  and  courage.  He  did  not  confine  himself  to  conquering 


i8 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


and  subjecting  the  Gauls  in  Gaul  ;  his  ideas  were  ever  outstripping  his  deeds, 
and  he  knew  how  to  make  his  power  felt  even  where  he  had  made  no  attempt 
to  establish  it.  Twice  he  crossed  the  Rhine  to  hurl  back  the  Germans 
beyond  their  river,  and  to  strike  to  the  very  hearts  of  their  forests  the  terror 
of  the  Roman  name  (a.  U.  C.  699,  700).  He  equipped  two  fleets,  made  two 
descents  on  Great  Britain  (a.  U.  C.  699,  700),  several  times  defeated  the 
Britons  and  their  principal  chieftain  Caswallon  (Cassivellaunus),  and  set  up, 
across  the  channel,  the  first  land-marks  of  Roman  conquest. 

During  his  first  campaign  in  Belgica  (a.  U.  C.  697  and  57  B.  c.),  the  Ner- 
vians  and  the  Aduaticans,  had  gallantly  struggled,  with  brief  moments  of  suc¬ 
cess,  against  the  Roman  legions.  The  Nervians  were  conquered  and  almost 
annihilated.  Their  last  remnants,  huddled  for  refuge  in  the  midst  of  their 
morasses,  sent  a  deputation  to  Caesar,  to  make  submission.  Caesar  received 
them  kindly,  returned  to  them  their  lands,  and  warned  their  neighbors  to  do 
them  no  harm.  The  Aduaticans,  on  the  contrary,  defended  themselves  to 
the  last  extremity.  Caesar,  having  slain  four  thousand,  had  all  that  remained 
sold  by  auction  ;  and  fifty-six  thousand  human  beings,  according  to  his  own 
statement,  passed  as  slaves  into  the  hands  of  their  purchasers.  A  little  later 
still,  some  insurgents  in  the  centre  of  Gaul  had  concentrated  in  a  place  to  the 
southwest,  called  Uxellodunum  (now-a-days,  it  is  said,  Puy  d’lssola,  in  the 
department  of  the  Lot,  between  Vayrac  and  Martel).  After  a  long  resistance 
they  were  obliged  to  surrender,  and  Caesar  had  all  the  combatants’  hands  cut 
off,  and  sent  them,  thus  mutilated,  to  live  and  rove  throughout  Gaul,  as  a 
spectacle  to  all  the  country  that  was  or  was  to  be  brought  to  submission. 

After  six  years’  struggling  Caesar  was  victor;  he  had  successively  dealt 
with  all  the  different  populations  of  Gaul  ;  he  had  passed  through  and  sub¬ 
jected  them  all,  either  by  his  own  strong  arm,  or  thanks  to  their  rivalries.  In 
the  year  of  Rome  702  he  was  suddenly  informed  in  Italy,  whither  he  had 
gone  on  his  Roman  business,  that  most  of  the  Gallic  nations,  united  under  a 
chieftain  hitherto  unknown,  were  rising  with  one  common  impulse,  and  recom¬ 
mencing  war. 

A  band  of  Carnutian  peasants  (people  of  Chartrain)  rushed  upon  the 
town  of  Genabum  (Gien),  roused  the  inhabitants,  and  massacred  the  Italian 
traders  and  a  Roman  knight,  C.  Fusius  Cita,  whom  Caesar  had  commissioned 
to  buy  corn  there.  In  less  than  twenty-four  hours  the  signal  of  insurrection 
against  Rome  was  borne  across  the  country  as  far  as  the  Arvernians,  amongst 
whom  conspiracy  had  long  ago  been  waiting  and  paving  the  way  for  insurrec¬ 
tion.  Amongst  them  lived  a  young  Gaul  whose  real  name  has  remained 
unknown,  and  whom  history  has  called  Vercingetorix,  that  is,  chief  over  a 
hundred  heads,  chief-in-general.  He  came  of  an  ancient  and  powerful  family 
of  Arvernians,  and  his  father  had  been  put  to  death  in  his  own  city  for 
attempting  to  make  himself  king.  Vercingetorix  was  immediately  invested 
with  the  chief  command,  and  he  made  use  of  it  with  all  the  passion  engendered 
by  patriotism  and  the  possession  of  power. 

Starting  from  Italy  at  the  beginning  of  702  A.  U.  C.,  Caesar  passed  two 


The  brave  Verciugetorix  surrenders  himself  and  Gaul  to  Caasar 

Page  19. 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


19 


months  in  traversing  within  Gaul  the  Roman  province  and  its  neighborhood, 
in  visiting  the  points  threatened  by  the  insurrection,  and  the  openings  by 
which  he  might  get  at  it,  in  assembling  his  troops,  in  confirming  his  wavering 
allies ;  and  it  was  not  before  the  early  part  of  March  that  he  moved  with  his 
whole  army  to  Agendicum  (Sens),  the  very  centre  of  revolt,  and  started  thence 
to  push  on  the  war  with  vigor.  In  less  than  three  months  he  had  spread 
devastation  throughout  the  insurgent  country :  he  had  attacked  and  taken  its 
principal  cities,  Vellaunodunum  (Trigueres),  Genabum  (Gien),  Noviodunum 
(Sancerre),  and  Avaricum  (Bourges),  delivering  up  every  where  country  and 
city,  lands  and  inhabitants,  to  the  rage  of  the  Roman  soldiery,  maddened  at 
having  again  to  conquer  enemies  so  often  conquered.  To  strike  a  decisive 
blow,  he  penetrated  at  last  to  the  heart  of  the  country  of  the  Arvernians,  and 
laid  siege  to  Gergovia,  their  capital  and  the  birthplace  of  Vercingetorix. 

The  firmness  and  the  ability  of  the  Gallic  chieftain  were  not  inferior  to 
such  a  struggle.  He  understood  from  the  outset  that  he  could  not  cope  in 
the  open  field  with  Caesar  and  the  Roman  legions ;  he  therefore  exerted  him¬ 
self  in  getting  together  a  body  of  cavalry  numerous  enough  to  harass  the 
Romans  during  their  movements,  to  attack  their  scattered  detachments,  to 
bear  his  orders  swiftly  to  all  quarters,  and  to  keep  up  the  excitement  amongst 
the  different  peoplets  with  some  hope  of  success.  The  capture  of  Avaricum, 
though  gallantly  defended,  justified  the  urgency  of  Vercingetorix,  seeing  that 
it  was  an  important  success  for  Caesar  and  a  serious  blow  for  the  Gauls.  Out 
of  40,000  combatants  within  the  walls,  it  is  said,  scarcely  800  escaped  the 
slaughter  and  succeeded  in  joining  Vercingetorix,  who  had  hovered  continu¬ 
ally  in  the  neighborhood  without  being  able  to  offer  the  besieged  any  effect¬ 
ual  assistance.  He  was  approaching  the  happiest  moment  of  his  enterprise 
and  his  destiny.  In  spite  of  reverses,  in  spite  of  Caesar’s  presence  and  activity, 
the  insurrection  was  gaining  ground  and  strength ;  in  the  north,  west,  and 
southwest,  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  the  Seine,  and  the  Loire,  the  idea  of 
Gallic  nationality  and  the  hope  of  independence  was  spreading  amongst  peo¬ 
ple  far  removed  from  the  centre  of  the  movement,  and  were  bringing  to  Ver¬ 
cingetorix  declarations  of  sympathy  or  material  reinforcements.  The 
Hiduans,  the  most  ancient  allies  and  clients  the  Romans  had  in  Gaul,  being 
divided  amongst  themselves,  and  feeling,  besides,  the  national  instinct,  ended, 
after  much  hesitation,  by  taking  part  in  the  uprising.  Caesar,  engaged  upon 
the  siege  of  Gergovia,  encountered  an  obstinate  resistance;  whilst  Vercinget¬ 
orix,  encamped  on  the  heights  which  surrounded  his  birthplace,  every  where 
embarrassed,  sometimes  attacked,  and  incessantly  threatened  the  Romans. 
The  eighth  legion,  drawn  on  one  day  to  make  an  imprudent  assault,  was 
repulsed,  and  lost  forty-six  of  its  bravest  centurions.  Caesar  determined  to 
raise  the  siege,  and  to  transfer  the  struggle  to  places  where  the  population 
could  be  more  safely  depended  upon.  Vercingetorix  could  not  and  would 
not  restrain  his  joy  ;  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  day  had  dawned  and  an  excel¬ 
lent  chance  arrived  for  attempting  a  decisive  blow.  He  had  under  his  orders, 
it  is  said,  80,000  men,  mostly  his  own  Arvernians,  and  a  numerous  cavalry 


20 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


furnished  by  the  different  peoplets  his  allies.  He  followed  all  Caesar’s  move¬ 
ments  in  retreat  towards  the  Saone,  and,  on  arriving  at  Longeau  not  far  from 
Langres,  near  a  little  river  called  the  Vingeanne,  he  halted  and  pitched  his 
camp  about  nine  miles  from  the  Romans.  And  all  did  take  an  oath,  and  so 
prepare  for  the  attack.  Vercingetorix  knew  not  that  Caesar,  with  his  usual 
foresight,  had  summoned  and  joined  to  his  legions,  a  great  number  of  horse¬ 
men  from  the  German  tribes  roving  over  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  with  which 
he  had  taken  care  to  keep  up  friendly  relations.  The  action  began  between 
the  cavalry  on  both  sides;  a  portion  of  the  Gallic  had  taken  up  position  on- 
the  road  followed  by  the  Roman  army,  to  bar  its  passage  ;  but  whilst  the 
fighting  at  this  point  was  getting  more  and  more  obstinate,  the  German  horse 
in  Caesar’s  service  gained  a  neighboring  height,  drove  off  the  Gallic  horse  that 
were  in  occupation,  and  pursued  them  as  far  as  the  river,  near  which  was 
Vercingetorix  with  his  infantry.  Disorder  took  place  amongst  this  infantry 
so  unexpectedly  attacked.  Caesar  launched  his  legions  at  them,  and  there 
was  a  general  panic  and  rout  among  the  Gauls.  Vercingetorix  had  great 
trouble  in  rallying  them,  and  he  rallied  them  only  to  order  a  general  retreat 
for  which  they  clamored.  Hurriedly  striking  his  camp,  he  made  for  Alesia 
(Semur  in  Auxois),  a  neighboring  town  and  the  capital  of  the  Mandubians. 
Caesar  immediately  went  in  pursuit  of  the  Gauls  ;  killed  3,000  ;  made  impor¬ 
tant  prisoners  ;  and  encamped  with  his  legions  before  Alesia  the  day  but  one 
after  Vercingetorix,  with  his  fugitive  army,  had  occupied  the  place  as  well  as 
the  neighboring  hills  and  was  hard  at  work  intrenching  himself. 

Caesar  at  once  took  a  resolution  as  unexpected  as  it  was  discreetly  bold. 
Here  was  the  whole  Gallic  insurrection,  chieftain  and  soldiery,  united 
together  within  or  beneath  the  walls  of  a  town  of  moderate  extent.  He 
undertook  to  keep  it  there  and  destroy  it  on  the  spot,  instead  of  having  to 
pursue  it  every  whither  without  ever  being  sure  of  getting  at  it.  He  had  at 
his  disposal  eleven  legions,  about  50,000  strong,  and  5,000  or  6,000  cavalry, 
of  which  2,000  were  Germans.  He  placed  them  round  about  Alesia  and  the 
Gallic  camp,  caused  to  be  dug  a  circuit  of  deep  ditches,  some  filled  with 
water,  others  bristling  with  palisades  and  snares,  and  added,  from  interval  to 
interval,  twenty-three  little  forts,  occupied  or  guarded  night  and  day  by 
detachments.  The  result  was  a  line  of  investment  about  ten  miles  in  extent. 
To  the  rear  of  the  Roman  camp,  and  for  defence  against  attacks  from  with¬ 
out,  Caesar  caused  to  be  dug  similar  intrenchments,  which  formed  a  line  of 
circumvallation  of  about  thirteen  miles.  The  troops  had  provisions  and 
forage  for  thirty  days.  Vercingetorix  made  frequent  sallies  to  stop  or  destroy 
these  works ;  but  they  were  repulsed,  and  only  resulted  in  getting  his  army 
more  closely  cooped  up  within  the  place.  Eighty  thousand  Gallic  insurgents 
were,  as  it  were,  in  prison,  guarded  by  fifty  thousand  Roman  soldiers. 
Before  the  works  of  the  Romans  were  finished,  Vercingetorix  assembled  his 
horsemen,  and  ordered  them  to  sally  briskly  from  Alesia,  return  each  to  his 
own  land,  and  summon  the  whole  population  to  arms.  He  was  obeyed  ;  the 
Gallic  horsemen  made  their  way,  during  the  night,  through  the  intervals  left 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


21 


by  the  Romans’  still  imperfect  lines  of  investment,  and  dispersed  themselves 
amongst  their  various  peoplets.  Nearly  every  where  irritation  and  zeal  were 
at  their  height ;  an  assemblage  of  delegates  met  at  Bibracte  (Autun),  and 
fixed  the  amount  of  the  contingent  to  be  furnished  by  each  nation,  and  a 
point  was  assigned  at  which  all  those  contingents  should  unite  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  marching  together  towards  Alesia,  and  attacking  the  besiegers.  The 
total  of  the  contingents  thus  levied  on  forty-three  Gallic  peoplets  amounted, 
according  to  Caesar,  to  283,000  men  ;  and  240,000  men,  it  is  said,  did  actually 
hurry  up  to  the  appointed  place.  But  whatever  may  be  the  case  with  the 
figures,  it  is  certain  that  at  the  very  first  moment  the  national  impulse 
answered  the  appeal  of  Vercingetorix,  and  that  the  besiegers  of  Alesia,  Caesar 
and  his  legions,  found  that  they  were  themselves  all  at  once  besieged  in  their 
intrenchments  by  a  cloud  of  Gauls  hurrying  up  to  the  defence  of  their  com¬ 
patriots.  The  struggle  was  fierce,  but  short.  Every  time  that  the  fresh 
Gallic  army  attacked  the  besiegers,  Vercingetorix  and  the  Gauls  of  Alesia 
sallied  forth,  and  joined  in  the  attack.  Caesar  and  his  legions,  on  their  side, 
at  one  time  repulsed  these  double  attacks,  at  another  themselves  took  the 
initiative,  and  assailed  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  besieged  and  the  auxilia¬ 
ries  Gaul  had  sent  them.  In  four  or  five  days  the  strong  organization,  the 
disciplined  valor  of  the  Roman  legions,  and  the  genius  of  Caesar  carried  the 
day.  The  Gallic  reinforcements,  beaten  and  slaughtered  without  mercy,  dis¬ 
persed  ;  and  Vercingetorix  and  the  besieged  were  crowded  back  within  their 
walls  without  hope  of  escape.  “  The  day  after  the  defeat,”  says  Caesar, 
“  Vercingetorix  convokes  the  assembly;  and  shows  that  he  did  not  under¬ 
take  the  war  for  his  own  personal  advantage  but  for  the  general  freedom. 
Since  submission  must  be  made  to  fortune,  he  offers  to  satisfy  the  Romans 
either  by  instant  death  or  by  being  delivered  to  them  alive.  A  deputation 
there  anent  is  sent  to  Caesar,  who  orders  the  arms  to  be  given  up  and  the 
chiefs  brought  to  him.  He  seats  himself  on  his  tribunal,  in  front  of  his  camp. 
The  chiefs  are  brought ;  Vercingetorix  is  delivered  over;  the  arms  are  cast  at 
Caesar’s  feet.  Except  the  ^Eduans  and  Arvernians,  whom  Caesar  kept  for  the 
purpose  of  trying  to  regain  their  people,  he  had  the  prisoners  distributed, 
head  by  head,  to  his  army  as  booty  of  war.” 

Alesia  taken,  and  Vercingetorix  a  prisoner,  Gaul  was  subdued.  Caesar, 
however,  had  in  the  following  year  (a.  U.  C.  703)  a  campaign  to  make  to  sub¬ 
jugate  some  peoplets  who  tried  to  maintain  their  local  independence.  A 
year  afterwards,  again,  attempts  at  insurrection  took  place  in  Belgica,  and 
towards  the  mouth  of  the  Loire  ;  but  they  were  easily  repressed  ;  Caesar  and 
his  lieutenants  willingly  contented  themselves  with  an  apparent  submission, 
and  in  the  year  705  A.  U.  C.  the  Roman  legions,  after  nine  years’  occupation  in 
the  conquest  of  Gaul,  were  able  to  depart  therefrom  to  Italy. 

GAUL  UNDER  ROMAN  DOMINION. 

From  the  conquest  of  Gaul  by  Caesar,  to  the  establishment  there  of  the 
Franks  under  Clovis,  she  remained  for  more  than  five  centuries  under  Roman 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


22 

dominion ;  first  under  the  Pagan,  afterwards  under  the  Christian  empire. 
She  lived,  during  those  five  centuries,  under  very  different  rules  and  rulers. 
They  may  be  summed  up  under  five  names  which  correspond  with  govern¬ 
ments  very  unequal  in  merit  and  defect,  in  good  and  evil  wrought  for  their 
epoch  :  1st,  the  Caesars  from  Julius  to  Nero  (from  49  B.  c.  to  A.  D.  68) ;  2nd,  the 
Flavians,  from  Vespasian  to  Domitian  (from  A.  D.  69  to  95) ;  3rd,  the  Antonines, 
from  Nerva  to  Marcus  Aurelius  (from  A.  D.  96  to  180);  4th,  the  imperial  an¬ 
archy,  or  the  thirty-nine  emperors  and  the  thirty-one  tyrants,  from  Commodus 
to  Carinus  and  Numerian  (from  A.  D.  180  to  284);  5th,  Diocletian  (from  A.  D. 
284  to  305).  Through  all  these  governments,  and  in  spite  of  their  different 
results  for  their  contemporary  subjects,  the  moral  and  social  decadence  of 
Gaul  as  well  as  of  the  Roman  empire,  never  ceased  to  continue  and  spread. 

On  quitting  conquered  Gaul  to  become  master  at  Rome,  Caesar  neglected 
nothing  to  assure  his  conquest  and  make  it  conducive  to  the  establishment  of 
his  empire.  He  formed,  of  all  the  Gallic  districts  that  he  had  subjugated,  a 
special  province  which  received  the  name  of  Gallia  Comata  (Gaul  of  the  long¬ 
hair),  whilst  the  old  province  was  Gallia  Togata  (Gaul  of  the  toga).  Caesar 
caused  to  be  enrolled  amongst  his  troops  a  multitude  of  Gauls,  Belgians, 
Arvernians,  and  Aquitanians,  of  whose  bravery  he  had  made  proof.  He  even 
formed,  almost  entirely  of  Gauls,  a  special  legion,  called  Alanda  (lark),  be¬ 
cause  it  bore  on  the  helmets  a  lark  with  outspread  wings,  the  symbol  of 
wakefulness.  At  the  same  time  he  gave  in  Gallia  Comata ,  to  the  towns  and 
families  that  declared  for  him,  all  kinds  of  favors,  the  rights  of  Roman  citizen¬ 
ship,  the  title  of  allies,  clients,  and  friends,  even  to  the  extent  of  the  Julian 
name,  a  sign  of  the  most  powerful  Roman  patronage.  At  the  same  time  that 
he  was  distributing  to  such  of  them  as  he  had  turned  into  his  own  soldiers 
the  money  reserved  for  the  expense  of  fighting  them,  he  was  imposing  upon 
Gallia  Comata ,  under  the  name  of  stipendium  (soldier’s  pay),  a  levy  of  forty 
millions  of  sesterces  (328,000/.),  a  considerable  amount  for  a  devastated  coun¬ 
try  which,  according  to  Plutarch,  did  not  contain  at  that  time  more  than  three 
millions  of  inhabitants,  and  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  levies  paid  by  the  rest 
of  the  Roman  provinces. 

After  Caesar,  Augustus,  left  sole  master  of  the  Roman  world,  assumed  in 
Gaul,  as  elsewhere,  the  part  of  pacificator,  repairer,  conservator,  and  organ¬ 
izer,  whilst  taking  care,  with  all  his  moderation,  to  remain  always  the  master. 
He  divided  the  provinces  into  imperial  and  senatorial,  reserving  to  himself 
the  entire  government  of  the  former,  and  leaving  the  latter  under  the  author¬ 
ity  of  the  senate.  Lugudnum  (Lyons),  which  had  been  up  to  that  time  of 
small  importance  and  obscure,  became  the  great  town,  the  favorite  cityship 
and  ordinary  abiding-place  of  the  emperors  when  they  visited  Gaul.  Augus¬ 
tus  went  several  times  to  Lyons,  and  even  lived  there,  as  it  appears,  a  pretty 
long  while,  to  superintend,  no  doubt,  from  thence  and  to  get  into  working  order 
the  new  government  of  Gaul.  After  the  departure  of  Augustus,  his  adopted 
son  Drusus,  called  together  at  Lyons  delegates  from  the  sixty  Gallic  citysliips, 
to  take  part  (b.  c.  12  or  10)  in  the  inauguration  of  a  magnificent  monument 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


305  A.D.] 


23 


raised,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  Saone,  in  honor  of  Rome  and  Au¬ 
gustus  as  the  tutelary  deities  of  Gaul. 

The  administrative  energy  of  Augustus  was  not  confined  to  the  erection 
of  monuments  and  to  festivals  ;  he  applied  himself  to  the  development  of 
Gaul  in  the  material  elements  of  civilization  and  social  order.  His  most  inti¬ 
mate  and  able  adviser,  Agrippa,  being  settled  at  Lyons  as  governor  of  the 
Gauls,  caused  to  be  opened  four  great  roads,  starting  from  a  milestone  placed  in 
the  middle  of  the  Lyonnese  forum ,  and  going  one  centrewards  to  Saintes  and 
the  ocean,  another  southwards  and  to  Narbonne  and  the  Pyrenees,  the  third 
northwestwards  and  towards  the  Channel  by  Amiens  and  Boulogne,  and  the 
fourth  northwestwards  and  towards  the  Rhine. 

He  had  appointed  as  procurator,  in  “  long-haired  ”  Gaul,  a  native  who, 
having  been  originally  a  slave  and  afterwards  set  free  by  Julius  Caesar,  had 
taken  the  Roman  name  of  Licinius.  The  taxes  were  collected  monthly  ;  and 
so,  taking  advantage  of  the  change  of  name  which  flattery  had  caused  in  the 
two  months  of  July  and  August,  sacred  to  Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus  respec¬ 
tively,  he  made  his  year  consist  of  fourteen  months,  so  that  he  might  squeeze 
out  fourteen  contributions  instead  of  twelve.  During  one  of  the  trips  which 
Augustus  made  into  Gaul,  strong  complaints  were  made  against  Licinius, 
and  his  robberies  were  denounced  to  the  emperor.  Augustus  dared  not  sup¬ 
port  him,  and  seemed  upon  the  point  of  deciding  to  bring  him  to  justice, 
when  Licinius  conducted  him  to  the  place  where  was  deposited  all  the  treas¬ 
ure  he  had  extorted,  and,  “See,  my  lord,”  said  he,  “what  I  have  laid  up  for 
thee  and  for  the  Roman  people,  for  fear  lest  the  Gauls  possessing  so  much  gold 
should  employ  it  against  you  both  ;  for  thee  I  have  kept  it,  and  to  thee  I  de¬ 
liver  it.”  Augustus  accepted  the  treasure,  and  Licinius  remained  unpunished. 
In  the  case  of  financial  abuses  or  other  acts,  absolute  power  seldom  resists 
such  temptations. 

Tiberius  pursued  in  Gaul  the  pacific  and  moderate  policy  of  Augustus. 
He  had  to  extinguish  in  Belgica,  and  even  in  the  Lyonnese  province,  two  in¬ 
surrections  kindled  by  the  sparks  that  remained  of  national  and  Druidic  spirit. 
He  repressed  them  effectually,  and  without  any  violent  display  of  vengeance. 
He  made  a  trip  to  Gaul,  took  measures  for  defending  the  Rhine  frontier 
from  the  incessantly  repeated  incursions  of  the  Germans,  and  hastened  back 
to  Italy  to  resume  the  course  of  suspicion,  perfidy,  and  cruelty  which  he  pur¬ 
sued  against  the  Republican  pride  and  moral  dignity  remaining  amongst  a 
few  remnants  of  the  Roman  Senate.  He  was  succeeded  by  Germanicus’  un¬ 
worthy  son,  Caligula.  Caligula  was  much  taken  up  with  Gaul,  plundering  it 
and  giving  free  rein  in  it  to  his  frenzies,  by  turns  disgusting  or  ridiculous. 
Lyons,  where  he  stayed  some  time,  was  the  scene  of  his  extortions  and  strang¬ 
est  freaks.  He  did  one  sensible  and  useful  thing  during  the  whole  of  his  stay 
in  Gaul :  he  had  a  light-house  constructed  to  illumine  the  passage  between 
Gaul  and  Great  Britain. 

His  successor,  Claudius,  brother  of  the  great  Germanicus,  and  married  to 
his  own  niece,  the  second  Agrippina,  was,  as  has  been  already  stated,  born  at 


24 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


Lyons,  at  the  very  moment  when  his  father,  Drusus,  was  celebrating  there 
the  erection  of  an  altar  to  Augustus.  During  his  whole  reign  he  showed  to 
the  city  of  his  birth  the  most  lively  good-will,  and  the  constant  aim  as  well  as 
principal  result  of  this  good-will  was  to  render  the  city  of  Lyons  more  and 
more  Roman  by  effacing  all  Gallic  characteristics  and  memories.  Claudius, 
the  most  feeble  indeed  of  the  Csesars,  in  body,  mind,  and  character,  was 
nevertheless  he  who  had  intermittent  glimpses  of  the  most  elevated  ideas  and 
the  most  righteous  sentiments,  and  who  strove  the  most  sincerely  to  make 
them  take  the  form  of  deeds.  He  undertook  to  assure  to  all  free  men  of 
“  long-haired  ”  Gaul  the  same  Roman  privileges  that  were  enjoyed  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Lyons. 

During  his  stay  in  Gaul  Claudius  proscribed  the  Druids  and  persecuted 
them  without  intermission  ;  forbidding,  under  pain  of  death,  their  form  of 
worship  and  every  exterior  sign  of  their  ceremonies.  He  drove  them  away 
and  pursued  them  even  into  Great  Britain,  whither  he  conducted,  A.  D.  43,  a 
military  expedition,  almost  the  only  one  of  his  reign,  save  the  continued 
struggle  of  his  lieutenants  on  the  Rhine  against  the  Germans.  Nero  caused 
a  new  census  to  be  made  of  the  population  whom  he  required  to  squeeze  to 
pay  for  his  extravagance.  It  was  in  his  reign,  as  is  well  known,  that  a  fierce 
fire  consumed  a  great  part  of  Rome  and  her  monuments.  The  majority  of 
historians  accuse  Nero  of  having  himself  been  the  cause  of  it  ;  but  at  any  rate 
he  looked  on  with  cynical  indifference.  He  did  more:  he  profited  by  it  so 
far  as  to  have  built  for  himself,  free  of  expense,  that  magnificent  palace  called 
“The  palace  of  gold,”  of  which  he  said,  when  he  saw  it  completed,  “At  last  I 
am  going  to  be  housed  as  a  man  should  be.”  Five  years  before  the  burning 
of  Rome,  Lyons  had  been  a  prey  to  a  similar  scourge. 

When  Nero  was  dead  there  was  no  other  Caesar,  no  naturally  indicated 
successor  to  the  empire.  Then  began  a  general  search  for  emperors ;  and  the 
ambition  to  be  created  spread  abroad  amongst  the  men  of  note  in  the  Ro¬ 
man  world.  Galba  was  raised  to  the  purple  by  the  Lyonnese  and  Narbonnese 
provinces,  Vitellius  by  the  legions  cantoned  in  the  Belgic  province:  to  such 
an  extent  did  Gaul  already  influence  the  destinies  of  Rome. 

Neither  Vespasian  nor  his  sons,  Titus  and  Domitian,  visited  Gaul  as  their 
predecessors  had.  Domitian  alone  put  in  a  short  appearance.  Gaul  was  far 
from  remaining  docile  and  peaceful  at  this  epoch  ;  the  desire  for  independence 
was  reawakened.  In  the  very  centre  of  Gaul,  between  the  Loire  and  the 
Allier,  a  peasant,  who  has  kept  in  history  his  Gallic  name  of  Marie  or  Mari- 
cus,  formed  a  band,  and  scoured  the  country,  proclaiming  national  indepen¬ 
dence.  He  was  arrested  by  the  local  authorities  and  handed  over  to 
Vitellius,  who  had  him  thrown  to  the  beasts.  But  in  the  northern  part  of 
Belgica,  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine,  where  a  Batavian  peoplet  lived,  a 
man  of  note  amongst  his  compatriots  and  in  the  service  of  the  Romans, 
amongst  whom  he  had  received  the  name  of  Claudius  Civilis,  embraced  first 
secretly,  and  afterwards  openly,  the  cause  of  insurrection.  He  was  joined  by 
a  young  Gaul  from  the  district  of  Langres,  Julius  Sabinus,  who  boasted  that, 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


25 


during  the  great  war  with  the  Gauls,  his  great-grandmother  had  taken  the 
fancy  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  that  he  owed  his  name  to  him.  The  Druids  came 
forth  from  the  retreats  where  they  had  hidden  since  Claudius’  proscription, 
and  re-appeared  in  the  towns  and  country-places,  proclaiming  that  “  the 
Roman  empire  was  at  an  end,  that  the  Gallic  empire  was  beginning,  and  that 
the  day  had  come  when  the  possession  of  all  the  world  should  pass  into  the 
hands  of  the  transalpine  nations.”  The  insurgents  rose  in  the  name  of  the 
Gallic  empire,  and  Julius  Sabinus  assumed  the  title  of  CeEsar .  War  com¬ 
menced.  Several  towns,  even  Treves  and  Cologne,  submitted  or  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  insurgents.  Several  legions,  yielding  to  bribery,  persuasion,  or 
intimidation,  went  over  to  them,  some  with  a  bad  grace,  others  with  the  blood 
of  their  officers  on  their  hands.  Petilius  Cerealis,  a  commander  of  renown  for 
his  campaigns  on  the  Rhine,  was  sent  off  to  Belgica  with  seven  fresh  legions. 
Civilis,  though  not  more  than  half  vanquished,  himself  asked  leave  to  sur¬ 
render.  Vespasian,  therefore,  not  being  inclined  to  drive  men  or  matters  to 
extremity,  gave  Civilis  leave  to  go  into  retirement  and  live  in  peace  amongst 
the  marshes  of  his  own  land.  The  Gallic  chieftains  alone,  the  projectors  of  a 
Gallic  empire,  were  rigorously  pursued  and  chastised.  There  was  especially 
one,  Julius  Sabinus,  the  pretended  descendant  of  Julius  Caesar,  whose  capture 
was  heartily  desired.  After  the  ruin  of  his  hopes  he  took  refuge  in  some 
vaults  connected  with  one  of  his  country  houses.  He  had  a  wife,  a  young 
Gaul  named  Eponina,  who  was  in  frantic  despair,  but  he  had  her  informed,  by 
the  mouth  of  one  of  his  freedmen,  of  his  place  of  concealment,  begging  her  at 
the  same  time  to  keep  up  a  show  of  widowhood  and  mourning,  in  order  to 
confirm  the  report  already  in  circulation.  “Well  did  she  play  her  part,”  to 
use  Plutarch’s  expression,  “  in  her  tragedy  of  woe.”  She  went  at  night 
to  visit  her  husband  in  his  retreat,  and  departed  at  break  of  day ;  and 
at  last  would  not  depart  at  all.  There  they  lived  for  nine  years,  during  which 
“  as  a  lioness  in  her  den,  neither  more  nor  less,”  says  Plutarch,  “  Eponina 
gave  birth  to  two  young  whelps,  and  suckled  them  herself  at  her  teat.”  At 
last  they  were  discovered,  and  brought  before  Vespasian  at  Rome:  “Caesar,” 
said  Eponina,  showing  him  her  children,  “  I  conceived  them  and  suckled  them 
in  a  tomb  that  there  might  more  of  us  to  ask  thy  mercy.”  Vespasian  sent 
Sabinus  to  execution.  Eponina  asked  that  she  might  die  with  her  husband. 
Vespasian  fulfilled  her  desire  by  sending  her  also  to  execution. 

In  fact  the  Caesars  and  the  Flavians  met  the  same  fate  ;  and  both  were 
extinguished  without  a  descendant.  They  had  to  get  another  emperor. 
Nerva  accepted,  but  not  without  hesitation,  for  he  was  sixty-four  years  old. 
The  short  reign  of  Nerva  was  a  wise,  a  just,  and  a  humane,  but  a  sad  one,  not 
for  the  people,  but  for  himself.  “  Seeing,”  says  one,  “  that  his  age  was 
despised,  and  that  the  empire  required  some  one  who  combined  strength  of 
mind  and  body,  Nerva,  being  free  from  that  blindness  which  prevents  one  from 
discussing  and  measuring  one’s  own  powers,  and  from  that  thirst  for  dominion 
which  often  prevails  over  even  those  who  are  nearest  to  the  grave,  resolved  to 
take  a  partner,  and  showed  his  wisdom  by  making  choice  of  Trajan.” 


26 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


[600  B.C. 


Five  notable  sovereigns,  Nerva,  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Antoninus  Pius  and 
Marcus  Aurelius  swayed  the  Roman  empire  during  this  period  (a.  D.  96-180). 
Trajan  stoutly  defended  the  empire  against  the  Germans  on  the  banks  of  the 
Danube,  won  for  it  the  province  of  Dacia,  and,  being  more  taken  up  with  the 
East  than  the  West,  made  many  Asiatic  conquests,  of  which  his  successor, 
Hadrian,  lost  no  time  in  abandoning,  wisely  no  doubt,  a  portion.  Hadrian 
passed  the  twenty-one  years  of  his  reign  chiefly  in  traveling  about  the  empire, 
in  Asia,  Africa,  Greece,  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Great  Britain,  opening  roads,  raising 
ramparts  and  monuments,  founding  schools  of  learning  and  museums,  and 
encouraging  among  the  provinces,  as  well  as  at  Rome,  the  march  of  adminis¬ 
tration,  legislation,  and  intellect.  At  the  close  of  this  active  career,  when  he 
was  ill  and  felt  that  he  was  dying,  he  did  the  best  deed  of  his  life.  He  had 
proved  in  the  discharge  of  high  offices,  the  calm  and  clear-sighted  wisdom  of 
Titus  Antoninus,  a  Gaul,  whose  family  came  originally  from  Nimes;  he  had 
seen  him  one  day  coming  to  the  Senate  and  respectfully  supporting  the 
tottering  steps  of  his  aged  father  ;  and  he  adopted  him  as  his  successor. 

The  series  of  emperors  thus  given  to  the  Roman  world  by  heirship  or 
adoption,  from  Augustus  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  was  succeeded  by  what  may  be 
termed  an  imperial  anarchy;  in  the  course  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
years  the  sceptre  passed  into  the  hands  of  thirty-nine  sovereigns  with  the  title 
of  emperor  {Augustus)  and  was  clutched  at  by  thirty-one  pretenders,  whom 
history  has  dubbed  tyrants.  They  were  Italians,  Africans,  Spaniards,  Gauls, 
Britons,  Illyrians  and  Asiatics;  and  amongst  the  number  were  to  be  met  with 
some  cases  of  eminence  in  war  and  politics  and  some  even  of  rare  virtue  and 
patriotism,  such  as  Pertinax,  Septimius  Severus,  Alexander  Severus,  Decius, 
Claudius  Gothicus,  Aurelian,  Tacitus  and  Probus.  They  made  great  efforts, 
some  to  protect  the  empire  against  the  barbarians,  growing  day  by  day  more 
aggressive,  others  to  re-establish  within  it  some  sort  of  order,  and  to  restore  to 
the  laws  some  sort  of  force.  All  failed,  and  nearly  all  died  a  violent  death, 
after  a  short-lived  guardianship  of  a  fabric  that  was  crumbling  to  pieces  in 
every  part,  but  still  under  the  grand  name  of  Roman  empire.  Amongst  the 
thirty-one  tyrants  who  did  not  attain  to  the  title  of  Augustus ,  six  were  Gauls  ; 
and  the  last  two,  Amandus  and  MUianus,  were,  A.  D.  285,  the  chiefs  of  that 
great  insurrection  of  peasants,  slaves  or  half-slaves,  who,  under  the  name  of 
Bagaudians ,  spread  themselves  over  the  north  of  Gaul,  between  the  Rhine  and 
the  Loire,  pillaging  and  ravaging  in  all  directions,  after  having  themselves 
endured  the  pillaging  and  ravages  of  the  fiscal  agents  and  soldiers  of  the 
Empire. 

A  legion  cantoned  amongst  the  Tungrians  (Tongres),  in  Belgica,  had  on 
its  muster-roll  a  Dalmatian  named  Diocletian,  not  yet  very  high  in  rank,  but 
already  much  looked  up  to  by  his  comrades  on  account  of  his  intelligence  and 
his  bravery.  He  lodged  at  a  woman’s,  who  was,  they  said,  a  Druidess,  and 
had  the  prophetic  faculty.  One  day  when  he  was  settling  his  account  with  her, 
she  complained  of  his  extreme  parsimony:  “  Thou’rt  too  stingy,  Diocletian,” 
said  she  ;  and  he  answered  laughing,  “  I’ll  be  prodigal  when  I’m  emperor.” 


305  A.D.] 


FRANCE.— GAUL  AND  THE  ROMANS. 


27 


**  Laugh  not,”  rejoined  she:  “  thou’lt  be  emperor  when  thou  hast  slain  a  wild 
boar”  (1 aper ).  The  Numerian  had  for  his  father-in-law  and  inseparable  com¬ 
rade  a  Praetorian  prefect  named  Arrius  Aper.  During  a  campaign  in  Mesopo¬ 
tamia  Numerian  was  assassinated,  and  the  voice  of  the  army  pronounced 
Aper  guilty.  The  legions  assembled  to  deliberate  about  Numerian’s  death 
and  to  choose  his  successor.  Aper  was  brought  before  the  assembly  under  a 
guard  of  soldiers.  Through  the  exertions  of  zealous  friends  the  candidature 
of  Diocletian  found  great  favor.  At  the  first  words  pronounced  by  him  from 
a  raised  platform  in  the  presence  of  the  troops,  cries  of  “  Diocletian  Augus« 
tus  ”  were  raised  in  every  quarter.  Other  voices  called  on  him  to  express  his 
feelings  about  Numerian’s  murderers.  Drawing  his  sword,  Diocletian 
declared  on  oath  that  he  was  innocent  of  the  emperor’s  death,  but  that  he 
knew  who  was  guilty  and  would  find  means  to  punish  him.  Descending  sud¬ 
denly  from  the  platform,  he  made  straight  for  the  Praetorian  prefect,  and  say¬ 
ing,  “  Aper,  be  comforted  ;  thou  shalt  not  die  by  vulgar  hands  ;  by  the  right 
hand  of  great  AEneas  thou  f attest,"  he  gave  him  his  death-wound.  “  I  have 
killed  the  prophetic  wild  boar,”  said  he  in  the  evening  to  his  confidants;  and 
soon  afterwards,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  certain  rivals,  he  was  emperor. 

“  Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  govern,”  was  the  remark  his  comrades 
had  often  heard  made  by  him.  When  emperor  in  his  turn,  Diocletian  treasured 
up  this  profound  idea  of  the  difficulty  of  government,  and  he  set  to  work, 
ably,  if  not  successfully,  to  master  it.  Convinced  that  the  Empire  was  too 
vast,  and  that  a  single  man  did  not  suffice  to  make  head  against  the  two  evils 
that  were  destroying  it,  he  divided  the  Roman  world  into  two  portions,  gave 
the  West  to  Maximian,  one  of  his  comrades,  a  coarse  but  valiant  soldier,  and 
kept  the  East  himself.  At  the  end  of  eight  years  he  saw  that  the  two 
Empires  were  still  too  vast  ;  and  to  each  Augustus  he  added  a  Caesar — Gale- 
rius  and  Constantius  Chlorus — who,  save  a  nominal,  rather  than  real,  sub¬ 
ordination  to  the  two  emperors,  had,  each  in  his  own  State,  the  imperial 
power  with  the  same  administrative  system.  In  this  partition  of  the  Roman 
world,  Gaul  had  the  best  of  it:  she  had  for  master,  Constantius  Chlorus,  a 
tried  warrior,  but  just,  gentle,  and  disposed  to  temper  the  exercise  of  absolute 
power  with  moderation  and  equity.  He  had  a  son,  Constantine,  at  this  time 
eighteen  years  of  age,  whom  he  was  educating  carefully  for  government  as 
well  as  for  war.  This  system  of  the  Roman  Empire,  thus  divided  between 
four  masters,  lasted  thirteen  years.  Weary  of  his  burden  and  disgusted  with 
the  imperfection  of  his  work,  Diocletian  abdicated,  A.  D.  305.  He  had  per¬ 
suaded  or  rather  dragged  his  first  colleague,  Maximian,  into  abdication  after 
him ;  and  so  Galerius  in  the  East,  and  Constantius  Chlorus  in  the  West, 
remained  sole  emperors.  Maximian  reappeared  on  the  scene  of  empire,  but 
only  to  speedily  disappear  (a.  D.  310),  leaving  in  his  place  his  son  Maxentius. 
Constantine  Chlorus  had  died  A.  D.  306,  and  his  son,  Constantine,  had  imme¬ 
diately  been  proclaimed  by  his  army  Caesar  and  Augustus.  On  the  29th  of 
October,  A.  D.  312,  after  having  gained  several  battles  against  Maxentius  in 
Italy,  Constantine  pursued  and  defeated  him  before  Rome  :  then  it  was  that 


28  FRANCE.— CHRISTIANTY  IN  GAUL.  [312 

Christianity  mounted  the  throne.  With  him  the  decay  of  Roman  society 
stops,  and  the  era  of  modern  society  commences. 

11. 


Chbistiaity  is  Gadi.-The  Babbamans.-The  Meeotoiah 

Dynasty.- Charlimabhe. 

HEN  Christianity  began  to  penetrate  into  Gaul,  it 
encountered  there  two  religions  very  different  one 
from  the  other,  and  infinitely  more  different  from  the 
Christian  religion  ;  these  were  Druidism  and  Paganism 
— hostile  one  to  the  other,  but  with  a  hostility  polit¬ 
ical  only,  and  unconnected  with  those  really  religious 
questions  that  Christianity  was  coming  to  raise. 
Druidism,  considered  as  a  religion,  was  a  mass  of  confusion.  A 
general  and  strong,  but  vague  and  incoherent,  belief  in  the  immor¬ 
tality  of  the  soul  was  its  noblest  characteristic.  But  with  the  reli¬ 
gious  elements,  at  the  same  time  coarse  and  mystical,  were  united 
two  facts  of  importance:  the  Druids  formed  a  veritable  ecclesiastical 
corporation ;  and  in  the  wars  with  Rome  this  corporation  became 
the  most  faithful  representatives  and  the  most  persistent  defenders 
of  Gallic  independence  and  nationality. 

The  Graeco-Roman  Paganism  was,  at  this  time,  far  more  powerful  than 
Druidism  in  Gaul,  and  yet  more  lukewarm  and  destitute  of  all  religious 
vitality.  It  was  the  religion  of  the  conquerors  and  of  the  State,  and  was 
invested,  in  that  quality,  with  real  power ;  but  beyond  that,  it  had  but  the 
power  derived  from  popular  customs  and  superstitions.  Such  were  the  two 
religions  with  which  in  Gaul  nascent  Christianity  had  to  contend.  Compared 
with  them  it  was,  to  all  appearance,  very  small  and  very  weak ;  but  it  was 
provided  with  the  most  efficient  weapons  for  fighting  and  beating  them,  for  it 
had  exactly  the  moral  forces  which  they  lacked.  It  is  impossible  to  assign  with 
exactness  the  date  of  the  first  foot-prints  and  first  labors  of  Christianity  in 
Gaul.  Lyons  became  the  chief  center  of  Christian  preaching  and  association 
in  Gaul.  As  early  as  the  first  half  of  the  second  century,  there  existed  there 
a  Christian  congregation  regularly  organized  as  a  church. 

It  was  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  most  philosophical  and  most 
conscientious  of  the  emperors,  that  there  was  enacted  for  the  first  time  in 
Gaul,  against  nascent  Christianity,  that  scene  of  tyranny  and  barbarity  which 
was  to  be  renewed  so  often  and  during  so  many  centuries  in  the  midst  of 
Christendom  itself;  for  in  the  year  177  that  is,  only  three  years  after  the 
victory  of  Marcus  Aurelius  over  the  Germans  there  took  place,  undoubtedly 


Attila,  “The  Flail  of  God,”  beaten  on  the  plains  of  Chalons,  a.d.  451. 

Page  29. 


FRANCE.— CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. 


29 


813] 

by  his  orders,  the  persecution  which  caused  at  Lyons  the  first  Gallic 
martyrdom.  This  was  the  fourth,  or,  according  to  others,  the  fifth  great 
imperial  persecution  of  the  Christians. 

The  martyrs  of  Lyons  in  the  second  century  wrote,  so  to  speak,  their 
own  history ;  for  it  was  their  conrades,  eye-witnesses  of  their  sufferings  and 
their  virtue,  who  gave  an  account  of  them  in  a  long  letter  addressed  to  their 
friends  in  Asia  Minor,  and  written  with  passionate  sympathy  and  pious 
prolixity,  but  bearing  all  the  characteristics  of  truth. 

But  Christian  zeal  was  superior  in  perseverance  and  efficacy  to  Pagan 
persecution.  St.  Pothinus  the  Martyr  was  succeeded  as  bishop  at  Lyons  by 
St.  Irenaeus,  the  most  learned,  most  judicious,  and  most  illustrious  of  the 
early  heads  of  the  Church  in  Gaul.  At  the  commencement  of  the  fourth 
century  their  work  was,  if  not  accomplished,  at  any  rate  triumphant  ;  and 
when,  A.D.  312,  Constantine  declared  himself  a  Christian,  he  confirmed  the 
fact  of  the  conquest  of  the  Roman  world,  and  of  Gaul  in  particular,  by 
Christianity.  No  doubt  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  not  as  yet 
Christians ;  but  it  was  clear  that  the  Christians  were  in  the  ascendant  and  had 
command  of  the  future.  In  241  A.D.  is  the  first  appearance  of  the  name 
of  Franks  in  history,  but  it  indicates  no  particular  single  people,  only  a 
confederation  of  German  peoples,  settled  or  roving  along  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  from  the  Mayn  to  the  ocean.  The  number  and  names  of  the  tribes 
joined  in  this  confederation  are  uncertain.  From  the  middle  of  the  third  to 
the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  the  history  of  the  Western  Empire  presents 
an  almost  uninterrupted  series  of  these  invasions  on  the  part  of  the  Franks, 
together  with  the  different  relationships  established  between  them  and  the 
imperial  government. 

After  the  commencement  of  the  fifth  century,  from  A.D.  406  to  409,  it 
was  no  longer  by  incursions  limited  to  certain  points,  and  sometimes  repelled 
with  success,  that  the  Germans  harassed  the  Roman  provinces.  Then  took 
place  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  East,  as  well  as  in  the  West,  in 
Asia  and  Africa  as  well  as  in  Europe,  the  last  grand  struggle  between  the 
Roman  armies  and  the  barbarians.  It  was  in  Gaul  that  it  was  most  obstinate 
and  most  promptly  brought  to  a  decisive  issue,  and  the  confusion  there  was  as 
great  as  the  obstinacy.  No  later  than  A.D.  412  two  German  nations,  the 
Visigoths  and  the  Burgundians,  took  their  stand  definitely  in  Gaul,  and 
founded  there  two  new  kingdoms:  the  Visigoths,  under  their  kings  Ataulph 
and  Wallia,  in  Aquitania  and  Narbonness  ;  the  Burgundians,  under  their  kings 
Gundichaire  and  Gundioch,  in  Lyonness,  from  the  southern  point  of  Alsatia 
right  into  Provence,  along  the  two  banks  of  the  Saone  and  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhone,  and  also  in  Switzerland.  In  451  the  arrival  in  Gaul  of  the  Huns  and 
their  king  Attila  gravely  complicated  the  situation.  Attila,  perceiving  that  a 
battle  was  inevitable,  halted  in  a  position  for  delivering  it.  “  It  was,”  says 
the  Gothic  historian  Jornandis,  “  a  battle  which  for  atrocity,  multitude,  horror, 
and  stubbornness,  has  not  the  like  in  the  records  of  antiquity.”  Theodoric. 
king  of  the  Visigoths,  was  killed.  At  this  battle  of  Chalons  in  451,  he  drove 


FRANCE.— CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. 


[312 


30 

the  Huns  out  of  Gaul  and  was  the  last  victory  in  Gaul,  gained  still  in  the 
name  of  the  Roman  empire.  Twenty-four  years  after,  the  very  name  of  the 
Roman  Empire  disappeared  with  the  last  of  the  emperors.  Thirty  years  after 
the  battle  at  Chalons  the  Franks  settled  in  Gaul  were  not  yet  united  as  one 
nation. 

Clovis  was  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old  when  he  became  king  of  the 
Salian  Franks  of  Tournay.  Five  years  afterward  his  ruling  passion,  ambition, 
exhibited  itself,  together  with  that  mixture  of  boldness  and  craft  which  was 
to  characterize  his  whole  life.  He  first  attacked  the  Roman  patrician 
Syagrius,  and,  after  putting  him  to  death,  settled  himself  at  Soissons.  His 
rmarriage  with  Clotilde,  niece  of  Gondebaud,  then  king  of  the  Burgundians 
1(493),  was  a  great  matter.  Clovis  and  the  Franks  were  still  Pagans; 
Gondebaud  and  the  Burgundians  were  Christians,  but  Arians ;  Clotilde  was  a 
Catholic  Christian.  The  consequences  of  the  marriage  justified  before  long 
the  importance  which  had  on  all  sides  been  attached  to  it.  In  496  the 
Allemannians  crossed  the  river  and  invaded  the  settlements  of  the  Franks. 
Clovis  went  to  the  aid  of  his  confederation,  and  attacked  the  Allemannians  at 
Tolbiac,  near  Cologne.  The  battle  was  going  ill ;  the  Franks  were  wavering 
and  Clovis  was  anxious.  Before  setting  out  he  had,  it  is  said,  promised  his 
wife  that  if  he  were  victorious  he  would  turn  Christian.  The  tide  of  battle 
turned:  the  Franks  recovered  confidence  and  courage;  and  the  Allemannians, 
beaten  and  seeing  their  king  slain,  surrendered  themselves  to  Clovis,  saying, 
u  Cease,  of  thy  grace,  to  cause  any  more  of  our  people  to  perish  ;  for  we  are 
thine/'  The  baptism  of  Clovis  took  place  in  the  Cathedral  of  Reims  on 
Christmas  Day,  496. 

Clovis  was  not  a  man  to  omit  turning  his  Catholic  popularity  to  the 
account  of  his  ambition.  He  learned  that  Gondebaud,  disquieted,  no  doubt, 
at  the  conversion  of  his  powerful  neighbor,  had  just  made  a  vain  attempt,  at 
a  conference  held  at  Lyons,  to  reconcile  in  his  kingdom  the  Catholics  and  the 
Arians.  Clovis  suddenly  entered  Burgundy  with  his  army.  Gondebaud, 
betrayed  and  beaten  at  the  first  encounter  at  Dijon,  fled  to  the  south  of  his 
kingdom,  and  went  and  shut  himself  up  in  Avignon.  Clovis  pursued  and 
besieged  him  there ;  and  having  reduced  him  to  the  humble  position  of  a 
tributary,  he  transferred  to  the  Visigoths  of  Aquitania  and  their  king,  Alaric 
II.,  his  views  of  conquest.  The  king  of  the  Visigoths  prepared  for  the 
struggle,  and  the  two  armies  met  a  few  leagues  from  Poitiers.  The  battle 
was  severe,  but  Alaric  II.  was  beaten,  and  Clovis  pursued  his  march  to 
Bordeaux,  and  settled  there  for  the  winter.  Then  he  marched  on  to  Toulouse* 
which  he  occupied  without  opposition.  There  his  course  of  conquest  was 
destined  to  end,  for  he  halted  at  Tours,  and  stayed  there  for  some  time  to 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  victories  and  establish  his  power.  It  appears  that 
even  the  Britons  of  Armorica  at  this  time  tendered  him  their  subordination 
and  homage,  if  not  their  acutal  submission.  Anastasius,  emperor  of  the 
East,  with  whom  he  had  already  had  some  communication,  sent  to  him  at 
Tours  a  solemn  embassy,  bringing  him  the  titles  and  insignia  of  patrician  and 


Clovis,  King  of  the  Franks,  meting  out  justice  with  his  own  hands  at  Tours 

Page  BO. 


FRANCE.— CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. 


813] 


31 


consul.  On  leaving  the  city  of  Tours  Clovis  repaired  to  Paris,  where  he 
fixed  the  seat  of  his  government. 

Paris  was  certainly  the  political  center  of  his  dominions,  the  intermediate 
point  between  the  early  settlements  of  his  race  and  himself  in  Gaul  and  his 
new  Gallic  conquests  ;  but  he  lacked  some  of  the  possessions  nearest  to  him 
and  most  naturally,  in  his  own  opinion,  his.  To  the  east,  north,  and  south¬ 
west  of  Paris  were  settled  some  independent  Frankish  tribes,  governed  by 
chieftains  with  the  name  of  kings.  So  soon  as  he  had  settled  at  Paris  it  was 
the  one  fixed  idea  of  Clovis  to  reduce  them  all  to  subjection.  He  had 
conquered  the  Burgundians  and  the  Visigoths;  it  remained  for  him  to 
conquer  and  unite  together  all  the  Franks.  So  Clovis  remained  sole  king  of 
the  Franks  when  all  the  independent  chieftains  had  disappeared. 

In  5 1 1,  the  very  year  of  his  death,  the  last  act  of  Clovis  in  life  was  the 
convocation  at  Orleans  of  a  council,  which  bound  the  Church  closely  to  the 
State,  and  gave  to  royalty,  even  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  great  power.  The 
bishops,  on  breaking  up,  sent  these  canons  to  Clovis,  praying  him  to  give 
them  the  sanction  of  his  adhesion,  which  he  did.  A  few  months  afterward, 
on  the  27th  of  November,  511,  Clovis  died  at  Paris. 

From  A.D.  51 1  to  A.D.  752, — that  is,  from  the  death  of  Clovis  to  the 
accession  of  the  Carlovingians — is  two  hundred  and  forty-one  years,  which  was 
the  duration  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Merovingians.  During  this  time  there 
reigned  twenty-eight  Merovingian  kings.  Five  of  these  kings,  Clotaire  I., 
Clotaire  II.,  Dagobert  I.,  Thierry  IV.,  and  Childeric  III.,  alone,  at  different 
intervals,  united  under  their  power  all  the  dominions  possessed  by  Clovis  or 
his  successors.  The  other  kings  of  this  line  reigned  only  over  special 
kingdoms,  formed  by  virtue  of  divers  partitions  at  the  death  of  their  general 
possessor.  From  A.D.  51 1  to  638  five  such  partitions  took  place.  Then  a  new 
division  of  the  Frankish  dominions  took  place,  no  longer  into  three,  but  two 
kingdoms,  Austrasia  being  one,  and  Neustria  and  Burgundy  the  other.  This 
was  the  definitive  dismemberment  of  the  great  Frankish  dominion  to  the 
time  of  its  last  two  Merovingian  kings,  Thierry  IV.  and  Childeric  III.,  who 
were  kings  in  name  only,  dragged  from  the  cloister  as  ghosts  from  the  tomb, 
to  play  a  motionless  part  in  the  drama.  For  a  long  time  past  the  real  power 
had  been  in  the  hands  of  that  valiant  Austrasian  family  which  was  to  furnish 
the  dominions  of  Clovis  with  a  new  dynasty  and  a  greater  king  than  Clovis. 

The  last  of  the  kings  sprung  from  Clovis  acquitted  themselves  too  ill  or 
not  at  all  of  their  task ;  and  the  mayors  of  the  palace  were  naturally 
summoned  to  supply  their  deficiencies,  and  to  give  the  populations  assurance 
of  more  intelligence  and  energy  in  the  exercise  of  power.  The  last  years  of 
the  Merovingian  line  were  full  of  their  struggles ;  but  a  cause  far  more 
general  and  more  powerful  than  these  differences  and  conflicts  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  Frankish  dominions  determined  the  definitive  fall  of  that  line 
and  the  accession  of  another  dynasty ;  we  allude  to  the  great  invasions  of 
barbarians  which  took  place  during  the  sixth  century. 

The  first  chief  of  these  mayors  of  the  palace  known  in  history  was 


32 


FRANCE.— CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. 


[312 


Pepin,  of  Lauden,  who  died  in  639.  His  son  was  inglorious,  but  his  grandson, 
by  his  daughter  Biga,  Pepin  of  Heristal,  was  for  twenty-seven  years  the  real 
sovereign  of  Austrasiaand  all  the  Frankish  dominions  under  the  title  of  duk^. 
On  the  death  of  this  Pepin,  December  1 6th,  714,  his  son  Charles,  then  twenty- 
five,  was  proclaimed  Duke  of  Austrasia.  He  was  destined  to  be  known  as 
Charles  Martel.  He  repelled  an  invasion  of  the  Frisons  and  Saxons,  and 
then  turned  against  the  Neustrians,  whom  he  twice  defeated.  The  invasion 
of  the  Arabs  soon  placed  Aquitania  and  Vasconia  within  his  grasp.  Eudes, 
or  Eudon,  duke  of  these  provinces,  had  twice  made  a  gallant  effort  to  repel 
the  formidable  soldiers  of  the  crescent  ;  at  last  he  sought  assistance  of  the 
Franks,  and  repaired  in  all  haste  to  Charles  Martel  to  invoke  his  aid  against 
the  common  enemy,  who,  after  having  crushed  the  Aquitanians,  would  soon 
attack  the  Franks,  and  subject  them  in  turn  to  ravages  and  outrages. 
Charles  did  not  require  solicitation.  He  took  an  oath  of  the  duke  of 
Aquitania  to  acknowledge  his  sovereignty  and  thenceforth  remain  faithful  to 
him  ;  and  then,  summoning  all  his  warriors,  he  set  himself  in  motion  toward 
the  Loire.  It  was  time.  The  Arabs  had  spread  over  the  whole  country 
between  the  Garonne  and  the  Loire.  Abdel-Rhaman,  their  chief,  fixed  his 
camp  between  the  Vienne  and  the  Clain,  near  Poitiers;  or  according  to  others, 
nearer  Tours,  at  Mire,  in  a  plain  still  called  the  Landes  de  Charlemagne. 

The  Franks  arrived.  It  was  in  the  month  of  September  or  October,  732, 
and  the  two  armies  passed  a  week  face  to  face,  at  one  time  remaining  in  their 
camps,  at  another  deploying  without  attacking.  At  the  breaking  of  the 
seventh  or  eighth  day,  Abdel-Rhaman,  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry,  ordered  a 
general  attack  ;  and  the  Franks  received  it  with  serried  ranks,  astounding 
their  enemies  by  their  tall  stature,  stout  armor,  and  their  stern  immobility. 
The  Franks,  finally,  had  the  advantage;  a  great  number  of  Arabs  and  Abdel- 
Rhaman  himself  were  slain.  At  the  approach  of  night  both  armies  retired  to 
their  camps.  The  next  day,  at  dawn,  the  Franks  moved  out  of  theirs,  to 
renew  the  engagement ;  the  Arabs  had  decamped  silently  in  the  night.  Then 
the  great  duke  of  Austrasia  strengthened  his  power  by  occupying  Burgundy 
and  Provence.  After  this,  while  making  use,  at  the  expense  of  the  Church 
and  for  political  interests,  of  material  force,  Charles  Martel  was  far  from 
misunderstanding  her  moral  influence,  and  the  need  he  had  of  her  support  at 
the  very  time  he  was  incurring  her  anathemas.  Not  content  with  defending 
Christianity  against  Islamism,  he  aided  it  against  Paganism. 

Charles  Martel  had  not  time  to  carry  out  effectually,  with  respect  to  the 
papacy,  this  policy  of  protection  and  at  the  same  time  of  independence ;  he 
died  at  the  close  of  this  same  year,  October  22d,  741,  aged  fifty-two.  Five 
years  after  the  death  of  Charles  Martel,  in  746  in  fact,  Carloman,  already 
weary  of  the  burden  of  power,  and  seized  with  a  fit  of  religious  zeal, 
abdicated  his  share  of  sovereignty,  left  his  dominions  to  his  brother  Pepin, 
and  withdrew  into  Italy  to  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino. 

Pepin,  less  enterprising  than  his  father,  but  judicious,  persevering  and 
capable  of  discerning  what  was  at  the  same  time  necessary  and  possible,  was 


FRANCE.— CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. 


33 


8*5] 

well  fitted  to  continue  and  consolidate  what  he  would  probably  never  have 
begun  and  created.  Like  his  father,  he,  on  arriving  at  power,  showed 
pretensions  to  moderation,  or,. it  might  be  said,  modesty.  He,  as  well  as  his 
brother,  had  taken  only  the  title  of  Mayor  of  the  Palace  at  first,  but  at  the 
end  of  ten  years  he  obtained  the  sanction  of  Pope  Zachary,  and  in  March,  752, 
he  was  proclaimed  king  of  the  Franks.  After  Pepin  had  settled  matters  with 
the  Church,  and  the  warlike  questions  remaining  for  him  to  solve,  he  directed 
all  his  efforts  toward  the  two  countries  which  he  longed  to  reunite  to  the 
Gallo-Frankish  monarchy, — this  is,  Sephinania,  still  held  by  the  Arabs,  and 
Aquitania,  the  independence  of  which  was  defended  by  Duke  Eudes’ 
grandson  ;  and  soon  the  conquest  of  all  Southern  Gaul  extended  the  power 
and  territory  of  his  monarchy  further  and  higher  than  it  had  yet  ever  been, 
even  under  Clovis. 

In  753  Pope  Stephen,  threatened  by  Astolphus,  king  of  the  Lombards, 
repaired  to  Paris,  and  asked  the  assistance  of  Pepin  and  his  warriors.  The 
Franks  crossed  the  Alps  with  enthusiasm,  succeeded  in  beating  the  Lombards, 
and  shut  up  in  Pavia  King  Astolphus,  who  was  eager  to  purchase  peace  at 
any  price.  He  obtained  it  on  two  principal  conditions:  1st,  That  he  would 
not  again  make  a  hostile  attack  on  Roman  territory  or  wage  war  against  the 
pope  or  people  of  Rome ;  2d,  That  he  would  henceforth  recognize  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Franks,  pay  them  tribute,  and  cede  forthwith  to  Pepin  the 
towns  and  all  the  lands  belonging  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  Empire 
which  were  at  that  time  occupied  by  the  Lombards.  Pepin  disposed  of  them 
forthwith,  in  favor  of  the  Popes,  by  that  famous  deed  of  gift  which 
comprehended  pretty  nearly  what  has  since  formed  the  Roman  States,  and 
which  founded  the  temporal  independence  of  the  papacy,  the  guarantee  of  its 
independence  in  the  exercise  of  the  spiritual  power. 

Pepin  had  thus  completed  in  France  and  extended  in  Italy  the  work 
which  his  father,  Charles  Martel,  had  begun  and  carried  on,  from  714  to  741, 
in  State  and  Church.  He  left  France  reunited  in  one  and  placed  at  the  head 
of  Christian  Europe.  He  died  at  the  monastery  of  St.  Denis,  September 
1 8th,  768,  leaving  his  kingdom  and  his  dynasty  thus  ready  to  the  hands  of 
his  son. 

Pepin  the  Short  divided  his  dominion  between  his  two  sons,  Charles  and 
Carloman,  but  an  unexpected  incident,  the  death  of  Carloman  three  years 
after,  in  771,  re-established  unity.  This  Charles  is  known  in  history  as 
Charlemagne. 

A  summary  of  the  wars  of  Charlemagne  will  here  suffice.  From  769  to 
813,  in  Germany  and  Western  and  Northern  Europe,  Charlemagne  conducted 
thirty-one  campaigns  against  the  Saxons,  Frisons,  Bavarians,  Avars,  Slavons, 
and  Danes ;  in  Italy,  five  against  the  Lombards ;  in  Spain,  Corsica,  and 
Sardinia,  twelve  against  the  Arabs ;  two  against  the  Greeks,  and  three  in 
Gaul  itself,  against  the  Aquitanians  and  the  Britons ;  in  all,  fifty-three 
expeditions,  among  which  those  he  ifndertook  against  the  Saxons,  the 
Lombards,  and  the  Arabs  were  long  and  difficult  wars. 

3 


34 


FRANCE.— CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. 


[312 


In  772,  being  left  sole  master  of  France  after  the  death  of  his  brother 
Carloman,  he  convoked  at  Worms  the  General  Assembly  and  decided  to 
invade  Saxony.  The  principal  events  of  the  war  may  thus  be  summarily 
enumerated :  Compulsory  baptism  of  a  large  number  of  the  Saxons  who 
had  been  driven  beyond  the  Weser(774);  diet  of  Paderborn  ;  all  the  chiefs 
send  in  their  submission  except  Wittikind  (777)  ;  victories  of  Badenfield  and 
of  Buckholtz  (780) ;  slaughter  of  forty-five  hundred  rebels  at  Verden(782); 
submission  of  Wittikind,  who  embraced  Christianity  (785).  The  conqueror 
could  only  finish  his  work  of  subjection  by  removing  forcibly  from  the 
country  ten  thousand  families,  which  he  disseminated  throughout  Brabant 
and  Switzerland  (803).  The  new  king  of  the  Lombards,  Didier,  and  the  new 
pope,  Adrian  I.,  had  entered  upon  a  new  war;  and  Didier  was  besieging 
Rome.  In  77 3  Adrian  invoked  the  aid  of  the  king  of  the  Franks. 
Charlemagne  tried  to  obtain  what  the  Pope  demanded.  When  Didier 
refused,  he  at  once  convoked  the  general  meetings  of  the  Franks  at  Geneva 
in  the  autumn  of  773,  gained  them  over  to  the  projected  Italian  expedition, 
and  then  commenced  the  campaign  with  two  armies.  He  finally  took  Pavia, 
where  his  father-in-law,  Didier,  had  shut  himself  up,  received  the  submission 
of  all  the  Lombard  dukes  and  counts,  save  one,  and  entered  France  with 
King  Didier  as  prisoner,  whom  he  banished  to  a  monastery. 

“  Three  years  afterward,  in  777,  the  Saracen  chief  Ibn-al-Arabi,”  says 
Eginhard,  “  came  to  Paderborn  in  Westphalia,  to  present  himself  before  the 
king.  He  had  arrived  from  Spain,  together  with  other  Saracens  in  his  train, 
to  surrender  to  the  king  of  the  Franks  himself  and  all  the  towns  which  the 
king  of  the  Saracens  had  confided  to  his  keeping.  With  the  coming  of  the 
spring  of  the  following  year,  778,  he  obtained  the  full  assent  of  his  chief 
warriors  and  started  on  his  march  toward  the  Pyrenees.  The  expedition, 
however,  begun  under  the  most  brilliant  auspices,  came  to  a  melancholy 
conclusion,  the  rear  guard  of  the  Franks’  army  being  cut  to  pieces  in  the 
passes  of  Roncesvalles  on  their  return  home.  This  disaster,  and  the  heroism 
of  the  warriors  who  perished  there,  became,  in  France  the  object  of  popular 
sympathy  and  the  favorite  topic  for  the  exercise  of  the  popular  fancy. 

Although  continually  obliged  to  watch,  and  often  still  to  fight,  Charle¬ 
magne  might  well  believe  that  he  had  nearly  gained  his  end.  He  had 
everywhere  greatly  extended  the  frontiers  of  the  Frankish  dominions,  and 
subjugated  the  populations  comprised  in  his  conquests.  He  had  proved 
that  his  new  frontiers  would  be  vigorously  defended  against  new  invasions  or 
dangerous  neighbors.  He  had  pursued  the  Huns  and  the  Slavons  to  the 
confines  of  the  Empire  of  the  East,  and  the  Saracens  to  the  islands  of  Corsica 
and  Sardinia.  The  center  of  the  dominion  was  no  longer  in  ancient  Gaul ;  he 
had  transferred  it  to  a  point  not  far  from  the  Rhine,  in  the  midst  and  within 
reach  of  the  Germanic  populations,  at  the  town  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  he 
had  founded,  and  which  was  his  favorite  residence ;  but  the  principal  parts  of 
the  Gallo-Frankish  kingdom,  Austrasia,  Neustria  and  Burgundy,  were  effectu¬ 
ally  welded  in  one  single  mass. 


Roland  calls  for  succor  at  the  battle  of  Roncesvalles 

Page  34 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


35 


814] 

In  799  he  received,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  news  of  serious  disturbances  at 
Rome,  but  he  remained  all  the  winter  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  spent  the  first 
months  of  the  year  800  on  affairs  connected  with  Western  France,  then 
journeying  toward  Italy,  he  arrived  on  the  23d  of  November,  800,  at  the 
gates  of  Rome.  Some  days  were  spent  in  examining  into  the  grievances 
which  had  been  set  down  to  the  pope’s  account,  and  in  receiving  two  monks 
arrived  from  Jerusalem  to  present  to  the  king,  with  the  patriarch’s  blessing, 
the  keys  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  and  Calvary,  as  well  as  the  sacred  standard. 
Lastly,  on  the  25th  of  December,  800,  “  the  day  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,” 
says  Eginhard,  “  the  king  came  into  the  Basilica  of  the  blessed  St.  Peter, 
apostle,  to  attend  the  mass.  At  the  moment  when  he  knelt  before  the  altar 
Pope  Leo  placed  on  his  head  a  crown,  and  all  the  Roman  people  shouted, 
“  Long  life  and  victory  to  Charles  Augustus,  crowned  by  God,  the  great  and 
pacific  emperor  of  the  Romans  !  ” 

Charlemagne  died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  on  Saturday,  the  28th  of  January, 
814,  in  his  seventy-first  year.  If  we  sum  up  his  designs  and  his  achievements, 
we  find  an  admirably  sound  idea  and  a  vain  dream,  a  great  success  and  a  great 
failure.  He  took  in  hand  the  work  of  placing  upon  a  solid  foundation  the 
Frankish  Christian  dominion  by  stopping,  in  the  north  and  south,  the  flood  of 
barbarians  and  Arabs,  Paganism  and  Islamism.  In  that  he  succeeded :  the 
inundations  of  Asiatic  populations  spent  their  force  in  vain  against  the  Gallic 
frontier.  Western  and  Christian  Europe  was  placed,  territorially,  beyond 
reach  of  attacks  from  the  foreigner  and  infidel.  No  sovereign,  no  human 
being,  perhaps,  ever  rendered  greater  service  to  the  civilization  of  the  world. 


in. 


ROM  the  death  of  Charlemagne  to  the  accession  of 
Hugh  Capet  that — is,  from  814  to  987 — thirteen  kings  sat 
upon  the  throne  of  France.  What  became  of  the  solid 
territorial  foundation  of  the  kingdom  of  Christian  France 
through  efficient  repression  of  foreign  invasion,  and  of 
the  unity  of  that  vast  empire  wherein  Charlemagne  had 
attempted  and  hoped  to  resuscitate  the  Roman  empire  ? 
The  fate  of  those  two  facts  is  the  very  history  of 
France  under  the  Carlovingian  dynasty ;  it  is  the  only  portion 
of  the  events  of  that  epoch  which  has  exercised  any  great  and 
lasting  influence  on  the  general  history  of  France. 

Attempts  at  foreign  invasion  of  France  were  renewed  very 
often  ;  it  were  tedious  to  relate  or  even  enumerate  all  the  incur¬ 
sions  of  the  Northmen,  with  their  monotonous  incidents.  How¬ 
ever,  there  are  three  on  which  it  may  be  worth  while  to  dwell 
particularly,  by  reason  of  their  grave  historical  consequences. 


36 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLO VINGIANS. 


[814 

In  the  middle  and  during  the  last  half  of  the  ninth  century,  a  chief  of  the 
Northmen,  named  Hastenc  of  Hastings,  appeared  several  times  over  on  the 
coasts  and  in  the  rivers  of  France,  with  numerous  vessels.  When  he  appeared 
before  Paris  he  consented  to  stop  his  cruising,  to  become  a  Christian,  and  to 
settle  in  the  courtship  of  Chartres,  which  the  king  gave  him  as  an  hereditary 
possession,  with  all  its  appurtenances. 

In  November,  885,  under  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Fat,  the  Northmen 
resolved  to  unite  their  forces  in  order,  at  length,  to  obtain  possession  of  Paris. 
The  siege  was  prolonged  through  the  summer,  and  when,  in  November,  886, 
Charles  the  Fat  at  last  appeared  before  the  city,  with  a  large  army,  it  was  to 
purchase  the  retreat  of  the  foe  at  the  cost  of  a  heavy  ransom.  Some  months 
afterward  Charles  the  Fat  was  deposed,  and  Arnulf,  a  natural  son  of  Carlo- 
man,  the  brother  of  Louis  III.,  was  proclaimed  emperor  in  his  stead.  At  the 
same  time  Count  Eudes,  the  gallant  defender  of  Paris,  was  elected  king  at 
Compiegne  and  crowned  by  the  Archbishop  of  Sens.  Guy,  duke  of  Spoleto, 
was  declared  king  at  Langres,  but  he  soon  abandoned  the  hopeless  task. 

In  the  midst  of  this  confusion  the  Northmen,  though  they  kept  at  a  dis¬ 
tance  from  Paris,  pursued  in  Western  France  their  cruising  and  plundering. 
In  Rollo  they  had  a  chieftain  far  superior  to  his  vagabond  predecessors. 

When,  in  898,  Eudes  was  dead,  and  Charles  the  Simple,  at  hardly  nineteen 
years  of  age,  had  been  recognized  sole  king  of  France,  the  ascendency  of  Rollo 
became  such  that  the  necessity  of  treating  with  him  was  clear.  Inpn  Charles, 
by  the  advice  of  his  councillors,  sent  to  the  chieftain  of  the  Northmen,  Franco, 
to  offer  him  the  cession  of  a  considerable  portion  of  Neustria  and  the  hand  of 
his  young  daughter  Gisele,  on  condition  that  he  became  a  Christian,  and 
acknowledged  himself  the  king’s  vassal.  The  treaty  was  made  at  St.  Clair- 
sur-Epte;  henceforth  the  vagabond  pirates  had  a  country  to  cultivate  and 
defend;  the  Northmen  were  becoming  French. 

The  invasions  of  the  Saracens  in  the  south  of  France  were  still  continued 
from  time  to  time;  but  they  did  not  threaten,  as  those  of  the  Northmen  did 
in  the  north,  the  security  of  the  Gallo-Frankish  monarchy,  and  the  Gallo- 
Roman  populations  of  the  south  were  able  to  defend  their  national  indepen¬ 
dence  at  the  same  time  against  the  Saracens  and  the  Franks.  They  did  so 
successfully  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries;  and  the  French  monarchy, 
which  was  being  founded  between  the  Loire  and  the  Rhine,  had  thus  for 
some  time  a  breach  in  it  without  ever  suffering  serious  displacement.  Sub¬ 
stantially  France  was  founded. 

When  Louis  the  Debonnair  became  emperor  he  began  his  reign  by  a 
reaction  against  the  excesses  of  the  preceding  reign.  He  established  at  his 
court,  for  his  sisters  as  well  as  his  servants,  austere  regulations.  In  817  Louis 
summoned  the  General  Assembly  and  declared  that  he  had  resolved  to  share 
with  his  eldest  son,  Lothaire,  the  imperial  throne.  This  son  was,  in  fact, 
crowned  emperor;  and  his  two  brothers,  Pepin  and  Louis,  were  crowned 
Lings.  After  the  death  of  Hermangarde,  his  first  wife,  Louis  had  married 
Judith  of  Bavaria.  In  823  he  had  by  her  a  son  known  as  Charles  the  Bald. 


Charlemagne  crowned  Roman  Emperor  by  Pope  Leo  in  the  Basilica  of 
St.  Peter’s  at  Rome.  F.  Kaulbach.  See  page  35. 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


37 


9  87] 

This  son  became  his  mother’s  ruling,  if  not  exclusive  passion,  and  the  source 
of  his  father’s  woes.  In  829,  during  an  assembly  held  at  Worms,  Louis  set  at 
naught  the  solemn  act  whereby,  in  817,  he  had  shared  his  dominions  among 
his  three  elder  sons,  and  took  away  from  two  of  them  some  of  the  territories 
he  had  assigned  to  them  and  gave  them  to  the  boy  Charles  for  his  share. 
Lothaire,  Pepin  and  Louis  thereupon  revolted.  Court  intrigues  were  added 
to  family  differences  ;  for  ten  years  scenes  of  disorder  kept  repeating  them¬ 
selves  again  and  again  ;  rivalries  and  secret  plots  began  once  more  between  the 
three  victorious  brothers  and  their  partisans.  Louis  speedily  convoked  at 
Worms,  in  839,  once  more  and  for  the  last  time,  a  General  Assembly,  whereat, 
leaving  his  son  Louis  of  Bavaria  reduced  to  his  kingdon  in  Eastern  Europe, 
he  divided  the  rest  of  his  dominions  into  two  nearly  equal  parts,  separated  by 
the  course  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Rhone.  Between  these  two  parts  he  left  the 
choice  to  Lothaire,  who  took  the  eastern  portion,  promising  at  the  same  time 
to  guarantee  the  western  portion  to  his  younger  brother  Charles.  Louis  the 
Germanic  protested  against  this  partition,  and  took  up  arms  to  resist  it.  His 
father,  the  emperor,  set  himself  in  motion  toward  the  Rhine,  to  reduce  him 
to  submission  ;  but  on  arriving  close  to  Mayence  he  caught  a  violent  fever, 
and  died  on  the  20th  of  June,  840,  at  the  castle  of  Ingelheim,  on  a  little  island 
in  the  river. 

Charles  the  Bald  was  to  succeed,  Lothaire  retaining  the  imperial  dignity; 
as  a  matter  of  fact  the  three  sons  equally  aspired  to  the  throne.  Charles  and 
Louis,  having  united  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  ambition  of  their  elder 
brother,  defeated  him  in  a  terrible  battle  near  the  village  of  Fontenailles, 
six  leagues  from  Auxerre.  The  Austrasian  influence,  till  then  triumphant  in 
Gaul,  perished  there  forever  (841).  The  victorious  princes  subsequently  con¬ 
firmed  their  union  by  what  is  generally  called  the  oaths  of  Strasburg ,  a  docu¬ 
ment  regarded  as  the  oldest  specimen  of  the  French  language.  Finally,  in 
August,  843,  the  three  brothers  assembling  with  their  umpires,  at  Verdun, 
they  at  last  came  to  an  agreement  about  the  partition  of  the  Frankish  empire, 
save  the  three  countries  which  it  had  been  beforehand  agreed  to  except. 
Thus  disappeared  in  843,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Verdun,  the  second  of 
Charlemagne’s  grand  designs,  the  resuscitation  of  the  Roman  Empire.  None 
of  his  successors  was  capable  of  exercising  on  the  events  of  his  times,  by 
virtue  of  his  brain  and  his  own  will,  any  notable  influence. 

Twenty-nine  years  after  the  death  of  Charlemagne — that  is,  in  843 — when, 
by  the  treaty  of  Verdun,  the  sons  of  Louis  the  Debonnair  had  divided  among 
them  his  dominions,  the  great  empire  split  up  into  three  distinct  and  inde¬ 
pendent  kingdoms,  the  kingdoms  of  Italy,  Germany,  and  France.  The  splits 
did  not  stop  there.  Forty-five  years  later,  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century, 
this  empire  had  begotton  seven  instead  of  three  kingdoms,  those  of  France,  of 
Navarre,  of  Provence,  or  Cis-juran  Burgundy,  of  Trans-juran  Burgundy,  of 
Lorraine,  of  Allemannia,  and  of  Italy. 

The  same  work  was  going  on  in  France.  About  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century  there  were  already  twenty-nine  provinces,  or  fragments  of  provinces, 


38 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLO VINGIANS. 


[  814 

which  had  become  petty  States,  the  former  governors  of  which  under  the 
names  of  dukes,  counts,  marquises,  and  viscounts,  were  pretty  nearly  real  sover¬ 
eigns.  Twenty-nine  great  fiefs,  which  have  played  a  special  part  in  French 
history,  date  back  to  this  epoch. 

From  the  end  of  the  ninth  pass  we  to  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  to 
the  epoch  when  the  Capetians  take  the  place  of  the  Carlovingians.  Instead 
of  seven  kingdoms  to  replace  the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  there  were  then  no 
more  than  four.  Overtures  had  produced  their  effects  among  the  great 
States;  but  in  the  interior  of  the  kingdom  of  France  dismemberment  had 
held  on  its  course,  and  instead  of  the  twenty-nine  petty  States  or  great  fiefs 
observable  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  we  find,  at  the  end  of  the  tenth, 
fifty-five  actually  established. 

Now  go  back  to  any  portion  of  French  history,  and  stop  where  you  will, 
and  you  will  everywhere  find  the  feudal  system  considered  by  the  mass  of 
the  population  a  foe  to  be  fought  down  at  any  price.  At  all  times,  whoever 
dealt  it  a  blow  has  been  popular  in  France. 

The  reason  for  this  fact  is  in  the  political  character  of  feudalism  ;  it  was 
a  confederation  of  petty  sovereigns,  of  petty  despots,  unequal  among  them¬ 
selves,  and  having,  one  toward  another,  certain  duties  and  rights,  but  invested 
in  their  own  domains,  over  their  personal  and  direct  subjects,  with  arbitrary 
and  absolute  power.  But  when  we  consider  the  masters,  the  owners  of  fiefs, 
and  their  relations  one  with  another,  we  see  liberties,  rights  and  guarantees, 
which  not  only  give  protection  and  honor  to  those  who  enjoy  them,  but  of 
which  the  tendency  and  effect  are  to  open  to  the  subject  population  an  outlet 
toward  a  better  future.  It  was,  as  it  were,  a  people  consisting  of  scattered 
citizens,  of  whom  each,  ever  armed,  accompanied  by  his  following,  or  intrenched 
in  his  castle,  kept  watch  himself  over  his  own  safety  and  his  own  rights,  rely¬ 
ing  far  more  on  his  own  courage  and  his  own  renown  than  on  the  protection 
of  the  public  authorities. 

The  society  of  the  future  was  not  slow  to  sprout  and  grow  in  the  midst  of 
that  feudal  system  so  turbulent,  so  oppressive,  so  detested.  No  sooner  was 
the  feudal  system  in  force  than,  with  its  victory  scarcely  secured,  it  was 
attacked  in  the  lower  grades  by  the  mass  of  the  people  attempting  to  regain 
certain  liberties,  ownerships  and  rights,  and  in  the  highest  by  royalty  laboring 
to  recover  its  public  character,  to  become  once  more  the  head  of  a  nation. 
And  from  this  moment  the  enfranchisement  of  the  people  makes  way,  in  spite 
of  the  weakness,  or  rather  nullity,  of  the  regal  power  at  the  same  epoch. 

From  the  end  of  the  ninth  to  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  two  families 
were,  in  French  history,  the  representatives  and  instruments  of  the  two  sys¬ 
tems  thus  confronted  and  conflicted  at  that  epoch,  the  imperial,  which  was 
falling,  and  the  feudal,  which  was  rising.  After  the  death  of  Charlemagne, 
his  descendants,  to  the  number  of  ten,  from  Louis  the  Debonnair  to  Louis  the 
Sluggard,  strove  obstinately,  but  in  vain,  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  empire 
and  the  unity  of  the  central  power.  In  four  generations,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  descendants  of  Robert  the  Strong  climbed  to  the  head  of  feudal  France. 


Excommunication  of  Robert  Le  Pieux, 
Page  39, 


:,r 

- -  . 

■■  ■  - 


» 


■■  .  '  -  -  *  -  . 

Av 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


39 


987] 

On  the  29th  or  30th  of  June,  987,  Hugh  Capet  was  crowned  king  by  the 
grandees  of  Frankish  Gaul  assembled  at  Senlis,  and  the  dynasty  of  the  Cape- 
tians  was  founded  under  the  double  influence  of  German  manners  and  feudal 
connexions.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  chieftains  of  feudal  society,  duke  of 
the  country  which  was  already  called  France,  and  count  of  Paris,  that  city 
which  Clovis  had  chosen  as  the  center  of  his  dominions.  The  Carlovingian, 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  vainly  attempted  to  assert  his  rights ;  but,  after  some 
gleams  of  success,  he  died  in  992,  and  his  descendants  fell,  if  not  into  obscur¬ 
ity,  at  least  into  political  insignificance.  In  vain,  again,  did  certain  feudal 
lords,  especially  in  Southern  France,  refuse  for  some  time  their  adhesion  to 
Hugh  Capet.  When  he  died,  on  the  24th  of  October,  996,  the  crown,  which 
he  hesitated,  they  say,  to  wear  on  his  own  head,  passed  without  obstacle  to 
his  son  Robert,  and  the  course  which  was  to  be  followed  for  eight  centuries, 
under  the  government  of  his  descendants,  by  civilization  in  France,  began  to 
develop  itself. 

It  is  worth  while  noticing  that,  far  from  aiding  the  accession  of  the  new 
dynasty,  the  court  of  Rome  showed  herself  favorable  to  the  old,  and  tried  to 
save  it  without  herself  becoming  too  deeply  compromised.  Such  was,  from 
985  to  996,  the  attitude  of  Pope  John  XVI.,  at  the  crisis  which  placed  Hugh 
Capet  upon  the  throne.  In  spite  of  this  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Papacy,  the 
French  Church  took  the  initiative  in  the  event,  and  supported  the  new  king. 

From  996  to  1108  the  first  three  successors  of  Hugh  Capet,  his  son  Rob¬ 
ert,  his  grandson  Henry  I.,  and  his  great-grandson  Philip  I.,  sat  upon  the 
throne  of  F ranee;  and  during  this  long  space  of  112  years  the  kingdom  of 
France  had  not,  sooth  to  say,  any  history.  Parcelled  out  betwen  a  multitude 
of  princes,  independent,  isolated,  and  scarcely  sovereigns  in  their  own  domin¬ 
ions,  the  France  of  the  eleventh  century  existed  in  little  more  than  name. 
One  single  event,  the  Crusade,  united,  toward  the  end  of  the  century,  those 
scattered  sovereigns  and  peoples  in  one  common  idea  and  one  combined 
action. 

In  A.D.  1000,  in  consequence  of  the  sense  attached  to  certain  words  in 
the  Sacred  Books,  many  Christians  expected  the  end  of  the  world.  Other 
facts,  some  more  lamentable,  began  about  this  time  to  assume  a  place  in 
French  history.  Piles  of  fagots  were  set  up  for  the  punishment  of  heretics ; 
some  more  salutary,  for  we  find,  about  this  epoch,  the  first  efforts  to  establish 
in  different  parts  of  France  what  is  called  God' s  peace,  God's  truce.  King 
Robert  always  showed  himself  favorable  to  this  pacific  work ;  and  he  is  the 
first  among  five  kings  who  were  distinguished  themselves  for  kindness  and 
anxiety  for  the  popular  welfare.  Though  not  so  pious  or  so  good  as  Robert, 
his  son,  Henry  I.,  and  grandson,  Philip  I.,  were  neither  more  energetic  nor 
more  glorious  kings. 

During  their  long  reigns  (the  former  from  1031  to  1060,  and  the 
latter  from  1060  to  1108)  no  important  and  well  prosecuted  design 
distinguished  their  government.  Their  public  life  was  passed  at  one  time 
in  petty  warfare,  without  decisive  results,  against  such  and  such  vassals ; 


40 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


[1000 


at  another,  in  acts  of  capricious  intervention  in  the  quarrels  of  their 
vassals  among  themselves.  Their  home  life  was  neither  less  irregular  nor 
conducted  with  more  wisdom  and  regard  for  the  public  interest.  In 
the  France  of  the  middle  ages,  though  practically  crimes  and  disorders, 
moral  and  social  evils  abounded,  yet  men  had  in  their  souls  and  their 
imaginations  loftier  and  purer  instincts  and  desires ;  their  notions  of  virtue 
and  their  ideas  of  justice  were  very  superior  to  the  practice  pursued 
around  them  and  among  themselves.  To  Christianity  it  was  that  the 
middle  ages  owed  knighthood,  that  institution  which,  in  the  midst  of 
anarchy  and  barbarism,  gave  a  poetical  and  moral  beauty  to  the  period. 
It  was  feudal  knighthood  and  Christianity  together  which  produced  the 
two  great  and  glorious  events  of  those  times,  the  Norman  conquest  of 
England  and  the  Crusades. 

From  the  time  of  Rollo’s  settlement  in  Normandy,  the  communica¬ 
tions  of  the  Normans  with  England  had  become  more  and  more  frequent 
and  important  for  the  two  countries.  The  conquest  of  England  by 

William  of  Normandy  properly  belongs  to  English  history,  and  we  refer 
the  reader  thereto.  Among  the  great  events  of  European  history  none 
was  for  a  longer  time  in  preparation  or  more  naturally  brought  about 
than  the  Crusades.  Christianity,  from  her  earliest  days,  had  seen  in 

Jerusalem  her  sacred  cradle  ;  it  had  been,  in  past  times,  the  home  of  her 
ancestors,  the  Jews,  and  the  center  of  their  history;  and,  afterward, 
the  scene  of  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  her  Divine  Founder. 
Jerusalem  became  more  and  more  the  Holy  City.  To  go  to  Jerusalem, 
to  visit  the  Mount  of  Olives,  Calvary,  and  the  tomb  of  Jesus,  was,  in 

their  most  evil  days  and  in  the  midst  of  their  obscurity  and  their 
martyrdoms,  a  pious  passion  with  the  early  Christians.  Events,  however, 
soon  rendered  the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  difficult,  and  for  some  time 
impossible ;  the  Mussulmans,  khalifs  of  Egypt  or  Persia,  had  taken 
Jerusalem;  and  the  Christians,  native  inhabitants  or  foreign  visitors, 

continued  to  be  oppressed,  harassed,  and  humiliated  there.  The  raising 
of  the  first  crusade  and  the  events  attending  its  progress  will  be  found 
fully  discussed  in  the  history  of  England. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1099,  the  Crusades,  to  judge  by  appear¬ 
ances,  had  attained  its  object.  Jerusalem  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Chris¬ 
tians,  and  they  had  set  up  in  it  a  king,  the  most  pious  and  most 
disinterested  of  the  crusaders.  Close  to  this  ancient  kingdom  were  grow¬ 
ing  up  likewise,  in  the  two  chief  cities  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia, 
Antioch  and  Edessa,  two  Christian  principalities,  in  the  possession  of  two 
crusader  chiefs,  Bohemond  and  Baldwin.  A  third  Christian  principality 
was  on  the  point  of  getting  founded  at  the  foot  of  Libanus,  at  Trip- 
olis,  for  the  advantage  of  another  crusader,  Bertrand,  eldest  son  of  Count 
Raymond  of  Toulouse.  The  conquest  of  Syria  and  Palestine  seemed  accom¬ 
plished,  in  the  name  of  the  faith,  and  by  the  armies  of  Christian  Europe ; 
and  the  conquerors  calculated  so  surely  upon  their  fixture  that,  during 


The  ceremony  of  investiture  of  a  knight 
H.  Vogel.  Page  40. 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


4i 


H47J 

his  reign,  short  as  it  was  (for  he  was  elected  king  July  23d,  1099,  and 
died  July  1 8th,  1 100,  aged  only  forty  years),  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  caused 
to  be  drawn  up  and  published,  under  the  title  of  Assizes  of  Jerusalem , 
a  code  of  laws,  which  transferred  to  Asia  the  customs  and  traditions  of 
the  feudal  system,  just  as  they  existed  in  France  at  the  moment  of  his 
departure  for  the  Holy  Land. 

Forty-six  years  afterward,  in  1145,  the  Mussulmans,  under  the  leader* 
ship  of  Zanghi,  sultan  of  Aleppo  and  of  Mossoul,  had  retaken  Edessa. 
Forty-two  years  after  that,  in  1187,  Saladin  (Salah-el  Eddyn),  sultan  of 
Egypt  and  Syria,  had  put  an  end  to  the  Christian  kingdom  of  Jeru- 
salem;  and  only  seven  years  later,  in  1194,  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion, 
king  of  England,  after  the  most  heroic  exploits  in  Palestine,  on  arriving 
in  sight  of  Jerusalem,  retreated  in  despair,  covering  his  eyes  with  his 
shield,  and  saying  that  he  was  not  worthy  to  look  upon  the  city  which 
he  was  not  in  a  condition  to  conquer.  A  century  had  not  yet  rolled 
by  since  the  triumph  of  the  first  crusaders,  and  the  dominion  they  had 
acquired  by  conquest  in  the  Holy  Land  had  become,  even  in  the  eyes  of 
their  most  valiant  and  most  powerful  successors,  an  impossibility. 

Nevertheless,  repeated  efforts  and  glory,  and  even  victories,  were  not 
then,  and  were  not  to  be  still  later,  unknown  among  the  Christians  in 
their  struggle  against  the  Mussulmans  for  the  possession  of  the  Holy 
Land.  In  the  space  of  a  hundred  and  seventy-one  years,  from  the  coro¬ 
nation  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  as  king  of  Jerusalem  in  1099  to  the  death 
of  St.  Louis  wearing  the  cross  before  Tunis  in  1270,  seven  grand  crusades 
were  undertaken  with  the  same  design  by  the  greatest  sovereigns  of  Europe. 
The  fourth  and  fifth  of  these  have  no  connection  with  French  history. 
During  a  reign  of  twenty-nine  years  Louis  VI.,  called  the  Fat ,  son  of 
Philip  I.,  did  not  trouble  himself  about  the  East  or  the  Crusades,  at  that 
time  in  all  their  fame  and  renown. 

When  Louis  VII.  came  to  the  throne,  he  for  a  time  paid  no  attention  to 
the  Crusaders  but  busied  himself  with  the  internal  affairs  of  his  government 
until  by  way  of  expiating  an  act  of  cruelty,  Louis  joined  with  the  Emperor 
Conrad  III.  in  carrying  on  the  second  crusade,  which  was  preached  at 

Vezelay  by  the  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  the  celebrated  St.  Bernard. 

Having  each  a  strength,  it  is  said,  of  100,000  men,  the  two  monarchs 

marched  by  Germany  and  the  Lower  Danube.  The  Emperor  Conrad 
and  the  Germans  first,  and  then  King  Louis  and  the  French  arrived  at 
Constantinople  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1147*  Manuel  Comnenus, 
grandson  of  Alexis  Comnenus,  was  reigning  there.  Conrad  was  the  first 
to  cross  into  Asia  Minor,  and  whether  it  was  unskillfulness  or  treason,  the 
guides  with  whom  he  had  been  supplied  by  Manuel  Comnenus  led  him  so 
badly  that,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1147,  he  was  surprised  and  shockingly 
beaten  by  the  Turks,  near  Iconium.  King  Louis  and  the  majority  of  his 
knights  continued  their  march  across  Asia  Minor,  and  gained  in  Phrygia,  at 
the  passage  of  the  river  Meander,  so  brilliant  a  victory  over  the  Turks  that, 


42 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLO VINGIANS. 


[1148 


“if  ^uch  men,”  says  the  historian  Nicetas,  “abstained  from  taking  Constan¬ 
tinople,  one  can  not  but  admire  their  moderation  and  forbearance.”  But 
the  success  was  short,  and,  ere  long,  dearly  paid  for.  On  entering  Pisidia, 
the  French  army  split  up  into  several  divisions,  which  scattered  and  lost 
themselves  in  the  mountains.  The  Turks  attacked  them,  and  before  long 
there  was  nothing  but  disorder  and  carnage.  But  they  continued  their 
march  pell-mell,  king,  barons,  knights,  soldiers,  and  pilgrims,  uncertain 
day  or  night  what  would  become  of  them  on  the  morrow.  At  last  they 
arrived  in  Pamphilia  at  Satalia,  a  little  port  on  the  Mediterranean. 
H  ere  Louis  embarked  with  his  queen  and  principal  kinghts,  and  toward 
the  end  of  March,  1148,  arrived  at  Antioch,  having  lost  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  his  army. 

On  approaching  Jerusalem,  in  the  month  of  April,  1148,  Louis  VII. 
saw  coming  to  meet  him  King  Baldwin  III.,  and  the  patriarch  and  the 
people  singing,  “Blessed  be  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord !  ” 
At  the  same  time  arrived  from  Constantinople  the  Emperor  Conrad, 
almost  alone  and  in  the  guise  of  a  simple  pilgrim.  All  the  remnant  of 
the  crusaders,  French  and  German,  hurried  to  join  them.  They  decided 
upon  the  siege  of  Damascus.  At  the  first  attack,  the  ardour  of  the 

assailants  and  the  brilliant  personal  prowess  of  their  chiefs,  of  the 

Emperor  Conrad  among  others,  struck  surprise  and  consternation  into 
the  besieged;  but  the  Turks  rallied  and  repulsed  the  crusaders,  who 
finally  raised  the  siege  and  returned  to  Jerusalem.  The  Emperor  Conrad 
in  disgust  set  out  at  once  for  Germany.  Louis  prolonged  his  stay  for 
more  than  a  year  without  any  results.  Urged  at  length  by  his  minister 
Suger  he  embarked  at  St.  Jean  d’Acre  in  July,  1149,  and  reached  France 

in  October.  Suger,  the  abbot  of  St.  Denis,  had  been  opposed  to  the 

crusade,  and  denounced  it  with  a  freedom  unique  for  his  times ;  but  after¬ 
ward,  in  the  king’s  absence,  had  administered  the  government  with  tact, 
firmness  and  disinterestedness  for  his  sovereign  and  established  order  over 
all  France. 

Almost  at  the  very  moment  when  Suger  was  dying,  a  French  council, 
assembled  at  Beaugency,  was  annulling,  on  the  ground  of  prohibited 
consanguinity,  and  with  the  tacit  consent  of  the  two  persons  most  concerned, 
the  marriage  of  Louis  VII.  and  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine.  Some  months 
afterward,  at  Whitsuntide  in  the  same  year,  Henry  Plantagenet,  duke  of 
Normandy  and  count  of  Anjou,  espoused  Eleanor,  thus  adding  to  his  already 
great  possessions  Poitou  and  Aquitaine,  and  becoming,  in  France,  a  vassal 
more  powerful  than  the  king  his  suzerain.  Twenty  months  later,  in  1154,  at 
the  death  of  King  Stephen,  Henry  Plantagenet  became  king  of  England. 

Little  more  than  a  year  after  Suger,  on  the  20th  of  April,  1153,  St. 
Bernard  died  also.  The  two  great  men,  of  whom  one  had  excited  and  the 
other  opposed  the  second  crusade,  disappeared  together  from  the  theater  of 
the  world.  The  crusade  had  completely  failed.  After  a  lapse  of  scarce  forty 
years  a  third  crusade  began. 


The  Crusaders  storming  the  walls  of  Damascus 
G.  Dor6.  Page  42. 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


43 


119U] 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1187,  Europe  suddenly  heard  tale  upon  tale 
about  the  repeated  disasters  of  the  Christians  in  Asia.  On  the  3d  and  4th  of 
July,  near  Tiberias,  a  Christian  army  was  surrounded  by  the  Saracens,  and 
also,  ere  long,  by  the  fire  which  Saladin  had  ordered  to  be  set  to  the  dry  grass 
which  covered  the  plain.  Four  days  after,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1187,  Saladin 
took  possession  of  St.  Jean  d’Acre,  and,  on  the  4th  of  September  following, 
of  Ascalon.  Finally,  on  the  18th  of  September,  he  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem, 
wherein  refuge  had  been  sought  by  a  multitude  of  Christian  families,  driven 
from  their  homes  by  the  ravages  of  the  infidels  throughout  Palestine ;  and 
the  Holy  City  contained  at  this  time,  it  is  said,  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 
Christians.  The  capitulation  soon  followed,  and  all  Christians,  however,  with 
the  exception  of  Greeks  and  Syrians,  had  orders  to  leave  Jerusalem  within 
four  days. 

After  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Saladin,  the  Christians  of  the  East,  in 
their  distress,  sent  to  the  West  their  most  eloquent  prelate  and  gravest 
historian,  William,  archbishop  of  Tyre.  At  a  parliament  assembled  at  Gisors, 
on  the  2 1  st  of  January,  1188,  and  at  a  diet  convoked  at  Mayence  on  the  27th 
of  March  following,  he  so  powerfully  affected  the  knighthood  of  France, 
England,  and  Germany,  that  the  three  sovereigns  of  these  three  States,  Philip 
Augustus,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  Frederick  Barbarossa,  engaged  with 
acclamation  in  a  new  crusade.  The  eldest,  Frederick  Barbarossa,  was  first 
ready  to  plunge  among  the  perils  of  the  crusade.  Starting  from  Ratisbonne 
about  Christmas,  1189,  with  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men, 
he  traversed  the  Greek  empire  and  Asia  Minor,  defeated  the  Sultan  of 
Iconium,  passed  the  first  defiles  of  Taurus,  and  seemed  to  be  approaching  the 
object  of  his  voyage,  when,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1190,  having  arrived  at  the 
borders  of  the  Selef,  a  small  river  which  throws  itself  into  the  Mediterranean 
close  to  Seleucia,  he  determined  to  cross  it  by  fording,  was  seized  with  a  chill, 
and,  according  to  some,  drowned  before  his  people’s  eyes,  but,  according  to 
others,  carried  dying  to  Seleucia,  where  he  expired.  His  young  son  Conrad, 
duke  of  Suabia,  was  not  equal  to  taking  the  command  of  such  an  army ;  and 
it  broke  up. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1190,  Philip  Augustus  went  and  took  the  oriflamme 
at  St.  Denis,  on  his  way  to  Vezelai,  where  he  had  appointed  to  meet  Richard, 
and  whence  the  two  kings,  in  fact,  set  out,  on  the  4th  of  July,  to  embark  with 
their  troops,  Philip  at  Genoa  and  Richard  at  Marseilles.  The  exploits  of 
Philip  and  Richard  are  given  in  the  History  of  England.  The  third  crusade 
ended  in  complete  failure.  The  three  armies,  at  the  moment  of  departure 
from  Europe,  amounted  to  between  five  hundred  thousand  and  six  hundred 
thousand  men,  of  whom  scarcely  one  hundred  thousand  ever  returned,  and 
the  only  result  of  the  third  crusade  was  to  leave  as  head  over  all  the  most 
beautiful  provinces  of  Mussulman  Asia  and  Africa,  Saladin,  the  most 
illustrious  and  most  able  chieftain,  in  war  and  politics,  that  Islamry  had 
produced  since  Mahomet. 


44  FRANCE.— THE  CARLO VINGIANS.  [1200 

From  the  end  of  the  twefth  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  it  is 
usual  to  count  three  crusades,  but  with  two  of  them  we  have  no  dealing. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  while  the  enterprises  which 
were  still  called  crusades  were  becoming  more  and  more  degenerate  in 
character  and  potency,  there  was  born  in  France,  on  the  25th  of  April,  1215, 
not  merely  the  prince,  but  the  man  who  was  to  be  the  most  worthy 
representative  and  the  most  devoted  slave  of  that  religious  and  moral  passion 
which  had  inspired  the  crusades.  Louis  IX.,  though  born  to  the  purple,  a 
powerful  king,  a  valiant  warrior,  a  splendid  knight,  and  an  object  of  reverence 
to  all  those  who  at  a  distance  observed  his  life,  and  of  affection  to  all  those 
who  approached  his  person,  was  neither  biassed  nor  intoxicated  by  any  such 
human  glories  and  delights ;  he  had  an  ambition  to  be,  and  was,  to  the 
measure  of  his  age,  a  true  Christian.  This  is  the  peculiar  and  original 
characteristic  of  St.  Louis,  and  a  fact  rare  and  probably  unique  in  the  history 
of  kings. 

In  the  first  years  of  his  government,  when  he  had  reached  his  majority, 
there  was  nothing  to  show  that  the  idea  of  the  crusade  occupied  Louis  IX.’s 
mind;  and  it  was  only  in  1239,  when  he  was  now  four  and  twenty,  that  it 
showed  itself  vividly  in  him. 

Five  years  afterward,  at  the  close  of  1244,  Louis  fell  seriously  ill  at 
Pontoise,  and,  having  recovered,  took  the  cross  in  consequence  of  a  vow  he 
had  made  to  that  effect.  At  last,  in  January,  1248,  he  took  leave  of  his 
mother,  Queen  Blanche,  whom  he  left  a  regent  during  his  absence  with  fullest 
power.  He  took  his  wife,  Queen  Marguerite,  of  Provence,  with  him.  In  the 
early  part  of  August  he  had  assembled  at  Aigues-Mortes  a  fleet  of  thirty- 
eight  vessels  and  a  number  of  transports,  which  he  had  hired  of  the  republic 
of  Genoa  to  convey  the  troops  and  personal  retinue  of  the  king  to  the  East ; 
he  sent  away  nearly  ten  thousand  bowmen,  Genoese,  Venetian,  Pisan,  and 
even  French,  whom  he  had  at  first  engaged,  and  of  whom,  after  inspection, 
he  desired  nothing  further.  The  sixth  crusade  was  the  personal  achievement 
of  St.  Louis,  not  the  offspring  of  a  popular  movement,  and  he  carried  it  out 
with  a  picked  army. 

The  Isle  of  Cyprus  was  the  trysting-place  appointed  for  all  the  forces  of 
the  expedition.  Louis  arrived  there  on  the  12th  of  September,  1248,  and 
reckoned  upon  remaining  there  only  a  few  days  ;  for  it  was  Egypt  that  he  was 
in  a  hurry  to  reach.  The  French,  however,  left  the  island  only  in  May,  1249, 
and,  in  spite  of  violent  gales  of  wind,  which  dispersed  a  large  number  of 
vessels,  they  arrived  on  the  4th  of  June  before  Damietta,  which  was  taken 
without  the  least  difficulty.  The  Mussulmans  had  found  time  to  recover 
from  their  first  fright  and  to  organize,  at  all  points,  a  vigorous  resistance. 
On  the  8th  of  February,  1250,  a  battle  took  place  twenty  leagues  from 
Damietta,  at  Mansourah  {the  city  of  victory),  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile. 
The  king’s  brother,  Robert,  count  of  Artois,  marched  with  the  vanguard,  and 
obtained  an  early  success.  Elated  by  this  result,  he  rushed  forward  into  the 
town,  where  he  found  the  Mussulmans  numerous  and  perfectly  rallied.  In  a 


The  Children’s  Crusade. 
Page  44. 


•V  . 


1263] 


FRANCE.— THE  CARLOVINGIANS. 


45 


few  moments  the  count  of  Artois  fell  pierced  with  wounds,  and  more  than 
three  hundred  knights  of  his  train,  the  same  number  of  English,  together 
with  their  leader,  William  Longsword,  and  two  hundred  and  eighty  Templars, 
paid  with  their  lives  for  the  senseless  ardor  of  the  French  prince.  The 
French  rallied  and  drove  off  their  foes.  The  battle-field  was  left  that  day  to 
the  crusaders  ;  but  they  were  not  allowed  to  occupy  it  as  conquerors,  for 
three  days  afterward,  on  the  nth  of  February,  1250,  the  camp  of  St.  Louis, 
was  assailed  by  clouds  of  Saracens.  An  attempt  was  made  by  the  French 
king  to  negotiate  with  the  enemy,  but  to  no  purpose,  and  on  the  5th  of  April,,, 
1250,  the  crusaders  decided  to  retreat.  But  during  this  retreat,  says  Joinville,, 
“  there  took  place  a  great  mishap.  A  traitor  of  a  sergeant,  whose  name  was. 
Marcel,  began  calling  to  our  people,  ‘  Sir  knights,  surrender,  for  such  is  the 
king’s  command  .  cause  not  the  king’s  death.’  All  thought  that  it  was  the 
king’s  command  ;  and  they  gave  up  their  swords  to  the  Saracens.”  Being 
forthwith  declared  prisoners,  the  king  and  all  the  rear  guard  were  removed  to 
Mansourah,  the  king  by  boat  and  his  two  brothers,  the  counts  of  Anjou  and 
Poitiers,  and  all  the  other  crusaders,  drawn  up  in  a  body  and  shackeled, 
followed  on  foot  on  the  river-bank.  The  advance  guard  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  army  soon  met  the  same  fate<  A  negotiation  was  opened  between  Louis 
and  the  Sultan  Malek-Moaddam,  who,  having  previously  freed  him  from  his 
chains,  had  him  treated  with  a  certain  magnificence.  The  king  was  awaiting 
aboard  his  ship  for  the  payment  which  his  people  were  to  make  for  the 
release  of  his  brother,  the  count  of  Poitiers ;  and  when  he  saw  approaching 
a  bark  on  which  he  recognized  his  brother,  “  Light  up  !  light  up  !  ”  he  cried 
instantly  to  his  sailors;  which  was  the  signal  agreed  upon  for  setting  out. 
And  leaving  forthwith  the  coast  of  Egypt,  the  fleet  which  bore  the  remains 
of  the  Christian  army  made  sail  for  the  shores  of  Palestine. 

The  king,  having  arrived  at  St.  Jean  d’Acre  on  the  14th  of  May,  1250* 
accepted,  without  shrinking,  the  trial  imposed  upon  him  by  his  unfortunate 
situation.  Twice  he  believed  he  was  on  the  point  of  accomplishing  his  desire 
— the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  from  the  Mussulmans,  and  the  re¬ 
establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
year  1253,  at  Sidon,  he  heard  that  his  mother,  Queen  Blanche,  had  died  at 
Paris  on  the  27th  of  November,  1252.  This  melancholy  news  induced  him  to 
return  to  Europe  ;  he  embarked  at  St.  Jean  d’Acre,  on  the  24th  of  April, 
1254,  and  arrived,  after  a  stormy  passage,  on  the  8th  of  July.  Passing  slowly 
through  France  he  entered  Paris  the  7th  of  September,  1254. 

For  seven  years  after  his  return  to  France,  from  1254  to  1261,  Louis 
seemed  to  be  in  a  continual  ferment  of  imagination  and  internal  fever,  ever 
flattering  himself  that  some  favorable  circumstance  would  call  him  back  to 
his  interrupted  work.  In  1263,  the  crusade  was  openly  preached  ;  taxes  were 
levied,  even  on  the  clergy,  for  the  purpose  of  contributing  toward  it ; 
and  princes  and  barons  bound  themselves  to  take  part  in  it.  Louis  was 
all  approval  and  encouragement,  without  declaring  his  own  intention.  In 
1267  a  parliament  was  convoked  at  Paris.  Next  year,  on  the  9th  of  February, 


46  FRANCE. — THE  CARLO VINGIANS.  [1270 

a  new  parliament  assembled  at  Paris ;  the  king  took  an  oath  to  start  in  the 
month  of  May,  1270. 

Saint  Louis  left  Paris  on  the  16th  of  March,  1270,  a  sick  man  almost 
already,  but  with  soul  content,  and  probably  the  only  one  without  misgiving 
in  the  midst  of  all  his  comrades.  It  was  once  more  at  Aigues-Mortes  that  he 
went  to  embark.  All  was  as  yet  dark  and  undecided  as  to  the  plan  of  the 
expedition.  At  last,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1270,  he  set  sail  without  any  one’s 
knowing  and  without  the  king’s  telling  any  one  whither  they  were  going.  It 
was  only  in  Sardinia,  after  four  days’  halt  at  Cagliari,  that  Louis  announced 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  crusade,  assembled  aboard  his  ship,  the  Mountjoy ,  that  he 
was  making  for  Tunis,  and  that  their  Christian  work  would  commence  there. 

But  on  the  17th  of  July,  when  the  fleet  arrived  before  Tunis,  the  admiral, 
Florent  de  Varennes,  probably  without  the  king’s  orders,  and  with  that  want 
of  reflection  which  was  conspicuous  at  each  step  of  the  enterprise, 
immediately  took  possession  of  the  harbor  and  of  some  Tunisian  vessels  as 
prize.  Thus  war  was  commenced  at  the  very  first  moment  against  the 
Mussulman  prince  whom  there  had  been  a  promise  of  seeing  before  long  a 
Christian. 

On  the  3d  of  August  Louis  was  attacked  by  the  epidemic  fever,  and 
obliged  to  keep  his  bed  in  his  tent ;  the  illness  soon  took  an  unfavorable  turn, 
and  no  hopes  of  recovery  could  be  entertained.  During  the  night  of  the 
24th-25th  of  August  he  ceased  to  speak,  all  the  time  continuing  to  show  that 
he  was  in  full  possession  of  his  senses,  and  on  Monday,  the  25th  of  August, 
1270,  at  3  P.  M.,  he  departed  in  peace  while  uttering  these  last  words : 
“  Father,  after  the  example  of  the  Divine  Master,  into  thy  hands  I  commend 
my  spirit  1  ” 


Death  of  Saint  Louis  at  Tunis.  “  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  Spirit.” 

A.  de  Neu'dlle.  Pai>e  46. 


IY. 


T  the  first  glance,  two  facts  strike  us  in  the  history  of 
the  kingship  in  France.  It  was  in  France  that  it 
adopted  soonest  and  most  persistently  maintained  Its 
fundamental  principle,  heredity;  only  in  France  was 
there,  at  any  time  during  eight  centuries,  but  a  single 
king  and  a  single  line  of  kings.  Unity  and  heredity, 
those  two  essential  principles  of  monarchy,  have  been 
the  invariable  characteristics  of  the  kingship  in  France. 

A  second  fact,  less  apparent  and  less  remarkable,  but, 
nevertheless,  not  without  importance  or  without  effect  upon  the 
history  of  the  kingship  in  France,  is  the  extreme  variety  of 
character,  of  faculties,  of  intellectual  and  moral  bent,  of  policy 
and  personal  conduct  among  the  French  kings.  Absolute 
monarchical  power  in  France  was,  almost  in  every  successive  reign, 
singularly  modified,  being  at  one  time  aggravated  and  at  another 
alleviated,  according  to  the  ideas,  sentiments,  morals,  and  spontaneous 
instincts  of  the  monarchs.  Nowhere  else,  throughout  the  great  European 
monarchies,  has  the  difference  between  kingly  personages  exercised  so  much 
influence  on  government  and  national  condition.  In  that  country  the  free 
action  of  individuals  has  filled  a  prominent  place  and  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
the  course  of  events.  Louis  did  not  direct  to  a  distance  from  home  his  ambition 
and  his  efforts  ;  it  was  within  his  own  dominion,  to  check  the  violence  of  the 
strong  against  the  weak,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  quarrels  of  the  strong  among 
themselves,  to  make  an  end,  in  France  at  least,  of  unrighteousness  and 
devastation,  and  to  establish  there  some  sort  of  order  and  some  sort  of 
justice,  that  he  displayed  his  energy  and  his  perseverance.  Sometimes,  when 
the  people  and  their  habitual  protectors,  the  bishops,  invoked  his  aid,  Louis 
would  carry  his  arms  beyond  his  own  dominions,  by  sole  right  of  justice  and 
kingship.  “  It  is  known,”  says  Suger,  “  that  kings  have  long  hands.”  Twice, 
in  1109  and  in  ill  6,  he  had  war  in  Normandy  with  Henry  I.,  king  of  England, 
and  he  therein  was  guilty  of  certain  temerities  resulting  in  a  reverse,  which 
he  hastened  to  rapair  during  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  campaign  ;  but, 
when  once  his  honor  was  satisfied,  he  showed  a  ready  inclination  for  the 
peace  which  the  pope,  Calixtus  II.,  in  council  at  Rome,  succeeded  in 
establishing  between  the  two  rivals.  The  war  with  the  emperor  of  Germany, 


48 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


[1124 


Henry  V.,  in  1124,  appeared,  at  the  first  blush,  a  more  serious  matter. 
France  summoned  the  flower  of  her  chivalry,  and  at  the  news  of  this 
mighty  host,  and  of  the  ardor  with  which  they  were  animated,  the  Emperor 
Henry  V.  advanced  no  farther,  and,  before  long,  “  marching,  under  some 
pretext,  toward  other  places,  he  preferred  the  shame  of  retreating  like  a 
coward  to  the  risk  of  exposing  his  empire  and  himself  to  certain  destruction. 
After  this  victory,  which  was  more  than  as  great  as  a  triumph  on  the  field  of 
battle,  the  French  returned  every  one  to  their  homes.” 

A  marriage  between  Eleanor  and  Louis  the  Young,  already  sharing  his 
father’s  throne,  was  soon  concluded :  it  took  place  at  Bordeaux,  at  the  end  of 
July,  1137,  and  on  the  8th  of  August  following  Louis  the  Young,  on  his  way 
back  to  Paris,  was  crowned  at  Poitiers  as  duke  of  Aquitaine.  He  there 
learned  that  the  king  his  father  had  lately  died,  on  the  is't  of  August.  In 
spite  of  its  long  duration  of  forty-three  years,  the  reign  of  Louis  VII.,  called 
the  Young,  was  a  period  barren  of  events  and  of  persons  worthy  of  keeping 
a  place  in  history. 

So  long  as  Suger  lived  the  kingship  preserved  at  home  the  wisdom 
which  it  had  been  accustomed  to  display,  and  abroad  the  respect  it  had 
acquired  under  Louis  the  Fat ;  but  at  the  death  of  Suger  it  went  on 
languishing  and  declining  without  encountering  any  great  obstacle. 

Philip  II.,  to  whom  history  has  preserved  the  name  of  Philip  Augustus, 
given  him  by  his  contemporaries,  had  shared  the  crown,  been  anointed,  and 
married  Isabel  a  year  before  the  death  of  Louis  VII.  put  him  in  possession 
of  the  kingdom.  He  soon  let  it  be  seen  that  he  intended  to  reign  by  himself, 
and  to  reign  with  vigor.  He  made  the  extension  and  territorial  connection 
of  France  the  one  chief  aim  of  his  life,  and  in  that  work  he  was  successful. 
Out  of  the  forty-three  years  of  his  reign,  twenty-six  at  least  were  war  years 
devoted  to  this  purpose.  Philip  Augustus,  once  in  possession  of  the 
personal  power  as  well  as  the  title  of  king,  it  was,  from  1187  t°  1216,  against 
three  successive  kings  of  England,  Henry  II.,  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  and 
John  Lackland,  masters  of  the  most  beautiful  provinces  of  France,  that 
Philip  directed  his  persistent  efforts.  They  were  in  respect  of  power,  of 
political  capacity,  and  military  popularity,  his  most  formidable  foes ;  he 
managed,  however,  to  hold  his  own  against  them  ;  and  when,  after  Richard’s 
death,  he  had  to  do  with  John  Lackland,  he  had  over  him,  even  more  than 
over  his  brother  Richard,  immense  advantages.  He  made  such  use  of  them 
that  after  six  years’  struggling,  from  1199  to  1205,  he  deprived  John  of  the 
greater  part  of  his  French  possessions — Anjou,  Normandy,  Touraine,  Maine, 
and  Poitou.  The  king  of  France  thus  recovered  possession  of  nearly  all  the 
territories  which  his  father,  Louis  VII.,  had  kept  but  for  a  moment.  He 
added  in  succession  other  provinces  to  his  dominions ;  in  such  wise  that  the 
kingdom  of  France  was  much  increased  on  all  sides. 

In  1206  the  territorial  work  of  Philip  Augustus  was  well  nigh  completed  ; 
but  his  wars  were  not  over.  John  Lackland  when  worsted  kicked  against  the 
pricks,  and  was  incessantly  hankering,  in  his  antagonism  to  the  king  of 


1 1 5  3J 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


49 


France.,  after  hostile  alliances  and  local  conspiracies,  easy  to  hatch  among 
certain  feudal  lords  discontented  with  their  suzerain.  Being  on  intimate 
terms  with  his  nephew,  Otho  IV.,  emperor  of  Germany  and  the  foe  of  Philip 
Augustus,  he  urged  him  to  prepare  for  a  grand  attack  upon  the  king  of 
France,  and  the  two  allies  had  won  over  to  their  coalition  some  of  his  most 
important  vassals,  among  others,  Renaud  de  Dampierre,  count  of  Boulogne. 
The  invasion  of  England,  boldly  attempted  by  Philip,  proved  a  failure.  On 
the  8th  of  April,  1213,  he  convoked,  at  Soissons,  his  principal  vassals  or  allies, 
explained  to  them  the  grounds  of  his  design  against  the  king  of  England, 
and  they  bound  themselves  to  support  him.  Only  one  vassal  refused  to  join 
him,  Ferrand,  count  of  Flanders.  The  war  between  Philip  on  one  side  and 
Ferrand  and  England  on  the  other  has  already  been  chronicled  in  our  history 
of  England.  It  ended  by  the  battle  of  Bouvines,  on  Sunday,  July  27th,  1214, 
with  a  victory  for  the  French.  The  victory  of  Bouvines  marked  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  the  time  at  which  men  might  speak,  and  indeed  did  speak,  by 
one  single  name,  of  the  French.  The  nation  in  France  and  the  kingship  in 
France  on  that  day  rose  out  of  and  above  the  feudal  system. 

Philip  Augustus  was  about  the  same  time  apprised  of  his  son  Louis’ 
success  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire.  The  incapacity  and  swaggering  insolence 
of  King  John  had  made  all  his  Poitevine  allies  disgusted  with  him;  he  had 
been  obliged  to  abandon  his  attack  upon  the  king  of  France  in  the  provinces, 
and  the  insurrection,  growing  daily  more  serious,  of  the  English  barons  and 
clergy  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  Magna  Charta,  was  preparing  for  him 
other  reverses.  He  had  ceased  to  be  a  dangerous  rival  to  Philip. 

The  organization  of  the  kingdom,  the  nation,  and  the  kingship  in  France 
was  not  the  only  great  event  and  the  only  great  achievement  of  that  epoch. 
At  the  same  time  that  this  political  movement  was  going  on  in  the  State,  a 
religious  and  intellectual  ferment  was  making  head  in  the  Church  and  in  men’s 
minds ;  in  the  course  of  this  active  and  salutary  participation  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world,  the  Christian  clergy  lost  somewhat  of  their  primitive  and  proper 
character.  And,  at  the  same  time,  in  addition  to  this  outburst  of  piety,  igno¬ 
rance  was  decried  and  stigmatized  as  the  source  of  the  prevailing  evils;  the 
function  of  teaching  was  included  among  the  duties  of  the  religious  estate. 
Activity  and  freedom  of  thought  were  developing  at  the  same  time  that 
fervent  faith  and  piety  were. 

The  struggle  of  Abelard  with  the  Church  of  Northern  France  and  the 
crusade  against  the  Albigensians  in  Southern  France  are  divided  by  much 
more  than  diversity  and  contrast ;  there  is  an  abyss  between  them.  In  North¬ 
ern  France,  in  spite  of  internal  disorder  and  through  the  influence  of  its 
bishops,  missionaries,  and  monastic  reformers,  the  orthodox  Church  had 
obtained  a  decided  superiority  and  full  dominion;  but  in  Southern  France,  on 
the  contrary,  all  the  controversies,  all  the  sects,  and  all  the  mystical  or  philo¬ 
sophical  heresies  which  had  disturbed  Christendom  from  the  second  century 
to  the  ninth,  had  crept  in  and  spread  abroad. 

For  half  a  century  after  the  death  of  St.  Bernard  in  1153  the  orthodox 

4 


50 


FRANCE.- -THE  KINGSHIP. 


[ii53 

Church  was  several  times  engaged  in  crusades  against  the  Albigensians  of 
Southern  France.  Innocent  III.  at  first  employed  against  them  only  spiritual 
weapons,  but  after  the  murder  of  his  legate,  Peter  de  Castelnau,  he  began  to 
proceed  to  extremities.  The  crusades  against  the  Albigensians,  which  he 
sanctioned,  were  striking  applications  of  two  pernicious  principles,  denial  of 
religious  liberty  to  conscience  and  of  political  independence  to  States.  It  was 
by  virtue  of  these  two  principles,  at  that  time  dominant,  that  Innocent  III., 
in  1208,  summoned  the  king  of  France,  the  great  lords  and  the  knights,  and 
the  clergy,  secular  and  regular,  of  the  kingdom  to  assume  the  cross  and  go 
forth  to  extirpate  from  Southern  France  the  Albigensians — worse  than  the 
Saracens.” 

Through  all  France,  and  even  outside  of  France,  the  passions  of  religion 
and  ambition  were  aroused  at  this  summons.  Twelve  abbots  and  twenty 
monks  of  Citeaux  dispersed  themselves  in  all  directions  preaching  the  crusade  ; 
and  lords, and  knights,  burghers  and  peasants,  laymen  and  clergy,  hastened  to 
respond.  These  crusaders  were  passionately  ardent  and  persevering.  The 
war  lasted  twenty-one  years  (from  1208  to  1229)  and  the  two  leading  spirits, 
one  ordering  and  the  other  executing,  Pope  Innocent  III.  and  Simon  de 
Montfort,  neither  saw  the  end  of  it.  During  these  twenty-one  years,  in 
the  region  situated  between  the  Rhone,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Garonne,  and  even 
the  Dordogne,  nearly  all  the  towns  and  strong  castles  were  taken,  lost, 
retaken,  given  over  to  pillage,  sack  and  massacre,  and  burnt  by  the  crusaders 
with  all  the  cruelty  of  fanatics  and  all  the  greed  of  conquerors.  Innocent  III. 
had  promised  the  crusaders  the  enjoyment  of  the  domains  they  might  win  by 
conquest  from  princes  who  were  heretics  or  protectors  of  heretics.  After  the 
capture,  in  1209,  of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne,  the  sovereignty  of  these 
possessions  was  granted  by  the  Pope  to  Simon,  lord  of  Montfort,  earl  of 
Leicester.  From  this  time  forth  the  war  in  Southern  France  changed  charac¬ 
ter,  or,  rather,  it  assumed  a  double  character ;  with  the  war  of  religion  was 
openly  joined  a  war  of  conquest.  Finally,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1218,  Simon 
de  Montfort,  who  had  been  for  nine  months  unsuccessfully  besieging  Tou¬ 
louse,  which  had  again  come  into  the  possession  of  Raymond  VI.,  was  killed 
by  a  shower  of  stones  under  the  walls  of  the  place,  and  left  to  his  son  Amaury 
the  inheritance  of  his  war  and  his  conquests.  P'ortune  deserted  him,  for 
Amaury  de  Montfort  was  losing  ground  every  day,  and  Raymond  VI.,  when 
he  died  in  August,  1222,  had  recovered  the  greater  part  of  his  dominions.  His 
son,  Raymond  VII.,  continued  the  war  for  eighteen  months  longer,  with 
enough  of  popular  favor  and  of  success  to  make  his  enemies  despair  of  recov¬ 
ering  their  advantages;  and,  on  the  14th  of  January,  1224,  Amaury  de  Mont¬ 
fort,  after  having  concluded  with  the  counts  of  Toulouse  and  Foix  a  treaty 
which  seemed  to  have  only  a  provisional  character,  ceded  to  Louis  VIII., 
then  king  of  France,  his  rights  over  the  domains  which  the  crusaders  had 
conquered. 

While  this  cruel  war  lasted  Philip  Augustus  would  not  take  any  part  in 
it.  He  received  visits  from  Count  Raymond  VI.,  and  openly  testified  good 


1248] 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


5i 


will  toward  him.  When  Simon  de  Montfort  was  decisively  victorious,  and  in 
possession  of  the  places  wrested  from  Raymond,  Philip  Augustus  recognized 
accomplished  facts,  and  received  the  new  count  of  Toulouse  as  his  vassal ;  but 
when,  after  the  death  of  Simon  de  Montfort  and  Innocent  III.,  the  question 
was  once  more  thrown  open,  and  when  Raymond  VI.  first,  and  then  his  son 
Raymond  VII.,  had  recovered  the  greater  part  of  their  dominions,  Philip- 
formally  refused  to  recognize  Amaury  de  Montfort  as  successor  to  his  father’s, 
conquests ;  nay,  he  did  more,  he  refused  to  accept  the  cession  of  those  con¬ 
quests,  offered  to  him  -by  Amaury  de  Montfort  and  pressed  upon  him  by 
Pope  Honorius  III.  In  his  political  life  he  always  preserved  this  proper 
mean,  and  he  found  it  succeeded  ;  but  in  his  domestic  life  there  came  a  day 
when  he  suffered  himself  to  be  hurried  out  of  his  usual  deference  toward  the 
pope ;  and,  after  a  violent  attempt  at  resistance,  he  resigned  himself  to  sub¬ 
mission.  The  circumstance  we  are  alluding  to  is  his  repudiation  of  Ingeburga 
of  Denmark,  and  his  marriage  with  the  Tyrolese  princess  Agnes  of  Merania, 
daughter  of  Bethold,  marquis  of  Istria,  whom,  about  1180,  the  emperor,. 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  had  made  duke  of  Moravia.  The  pope  threatened 
Philip  with  the  interdict ;  that  is,  the  suspension  of  all  religious  ceremonies, 
festivals,  and  forms  in  the  Church  of  France.  The  king  resisted  not  only  the 
threat,  but  also  the  sentence  of  the  interdict,  which  was  actually  pronounced, 
first  in  the  churches  of  the  royal  domain,  and  afterward  in  those  of  the  whole 
kingdom.  For  four  years  the  struggle  went  on.  At  last  Philip  yielded  to 
the  injunction  of  the  Pope  and  the  feeling  of  his  people  ;  he  sent  away  Agnes 
and  recalled  Ingeburga.  He  had  for  several  months  been  battling  with  an 
incessant  fever  ;  he  was  obliged  to  halt  at  Nantes,  and  there  he  died  on  the 
14th  of  January,  1222,  leaving  the  kingdom  of  France  far  more  extensive  and 
more  compact,  and  the  kingship  in  France  far  stronger  and  more  respected 
than  he  had  found  them.  His  son,  Louis  VIII.,  inherited  a  great  kingdom, 
an  undisputed  crown,  and  a  power  that  was  respected.  He  died  on  the  8th 
of  November,  1226,  after  a  reign  of  three  years,  adding  to  the  history  of 
France  no  glory  save  that  of  having  been  the  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  the 
husband  of  Blanche  of  Castile,  and  the  father  of  St.  Louis. 

We  have  already  pursued  the  most  brilliant  and  celebrated  among  the 
events  of  St.  Louis’  reign,  his  two  crusades  against  the  Mussulmans.  It  is 
now  of  Louis  in  France  and  of  his  government  at  home  that  we  have  to  take 
note.  And  in  this  part  of  his  history  he  is  not  the  only  royal  and  really 
regnant  personage  we  encounter;  for  of  the  forty-four  years  of  St.  Louis’ 
reign,  nearly  fifteen,  with  a  long  interval  of  separation,  pertained  to  the  gov¬ 
ernment  of  Queen  Blanche  of  Castile  rather  than  to  that  of  the  king  her 
son.  Louis,  at  his  accession,  in  1226,  was  only  eleven  ;  and  he  remained  a 
minor  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  1236,  for  the  time  of  majority  in  the 
case  of  royalty  was  not  yet  specially  and  rigorously  fixed.  During  those  ten 
years  Queen  Blanche  governed  France;  not  at  all,  as  is  commonly  asserted 
with  the  official  title  of  regent,  but  simply  as  guardian  of  the  king  her  son 
It  was  not  until  twenty-two  years  had  passed,  in  1248,  that  Louis,  on  starting 


LIBRARY 

“NWRSI7Y  of  IUIN0IS 


52 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


[1252 

for  the  crusade,  officially  delegated  to  his  mother  the  kingly  authority,  and 
that  Blanche,  during  her  son’s  absence,  really  governed  with  the  title  of  regent, 
up  to  the  1st  of  December,  1252,  the  day  of  his  death. 

The  entrance  of  Louis  IX.  upon  the  personal  exercise  of  kingly  power 
produced  no  change  in  the  conduct  of  affairs  from  the  wise  policy  of  his 
mother. 

Hugh  de  Lusignan,  count  of  la  Marche,  had  not  only  declined  doing 
homage  to  the  king’s  brother,  Alphonso,  count  of  Poitiers,  whose  vassal  he 
was,  but  had  also  excited  to  rebellion  certain  powerful  lords  of  la  Marche, 
.'Saintonge,  and  Angoumois,  and  had  called  to  his  assistance  Henry  III.,  king 
*of  England,  son  of  the  countess  of  la  Marche.  “As  my  name  is  Louis,” 
■said  the  king,  “the  count  of  la  Marche  doth  claim  to  hold  land  in  such  wise, 
land  which  hath  been  a  fief  of  France  since  the  days  of  the  valiant  King 
Clovis,  who  won  all  Aquitaine  from  King  Alaric,  a  pagan  without  faith  or 
creed,  and  all  the  country  to  the  Pyrenean  mount.”  And  the  barons 
promised  the  king  their  energetic  co-operation. 

Near  two  towns  of  Saintonge,  Taiblebourg  and  Saintes,  at  a  bridge 
■which  covers  the  approaches  of  one,  and  in  front  of  the  walls  of  the  other, 
Louis,  on  the  21st  and  22d  of  July,  fought  two  battles,  in  which  the  brilliancy 
of  his  personal  valor  and  the  affectionate  enthusiasm  he  excited  in  his  troops 
secured  victory  and  the  surrender  of  the  two  places.  He  entered  into 
negotiations,  successively,  with  the  count  of  la  Marche,  the  king  of  England, 
.the  count  of  Toulouse,  the  king  of  Aragon,  and  the  various  princes  and  great 
ifeudal  lords  who  had  been  more  or  less  engaged  in  the  war;  and  in  January, 
1243,  the  treaty  of  Lorris  marked  the  end  of  feudal  troubles  for  the  whole 
duration  of  St.  Louis’  reign.  An  obstinate  civil  war  was  raging  between 
Henry  III.  and  his  barons.  Neither  party,  in  defending  its  own  rights,  had 
any  notion  of  respecting  the  rights  of  its  adversaries,  and  England  was 
alternating  between  a  kingly  and  an  aristocratic  tyranny.  Louis,  chosen  as 
arbiter  by  both  sides,  delivered  solemnly,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1264,  a 
decision  which  was  favorable  to  the  English  kingship,  but  at  the  same  time 
•expressly  upheld  the  Great  Charter  and  the  traditional  liberties  of  England. 
He  concluded  his  decision  with  the  following  suggestions  of  amnesty:  “We 
will  also  that  the  king  of  England  and  his  barons  do  forgive  one  another 
mutually,  that  they  do  forget  all  the  resentments  that  may  exist  between 
them  by  consequence  of  the  matters  submitted  to  our  arbitration,  and  that 
henceforth  they  do  refrain  reciprocally  from  any  offense  and  injury  on 
account  of  the  same  matters.”  Five  centuries  afterward  the  great  English 
historian,  Hume,  rendered  him  due  homage  in  these  terms:  “  Every  time 
this  virtuous  prince  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  England,  it  was  invariably 
with  the  view  of  settling  differences  between  the  king  and  the  nobility. 
Adopting  an  admirable  course  of  conduct,  as  politic  probably  as  it  certainly 
was  just,  he  never  interposed  his  good  offices  save  to  put  an  end  to  the  disagree¬ 
ments  of  the  English  ;  he  seconded  all  the  measures  which  could  give  security 
to  both  parties,  and  he  made  persistent  efforts,  though  without  success,  to 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


1282] 


53 


moderate  the  fiery  ambition  of  the  earl  of  Leicester.”  (Hume,  “  History  of 
England,”  t.  ii.  p.  465.) 

One  special  fact  in  the  civil  and  municipal  administration  of  St.  Louis 
deserves  to  find  a  place  in  history.  After  the  time  of  Philip  Augustus  there 
was  malfeasance  in  the  police  of  Paris.  The  provostship  of  Paris,  which 
comprehended  functions  analogous  to  those  of  prefect,  mayor,  and  receiver- 
general,  became  a  purchasable  office,  filled  sometimes  by  two  provosts  at  a 
time.  The  burghers  no  longer  found  justice  or  security  in  the  city  where  the 
king  resided.  At  his  return  from  his  first  crusade,  Louis  recognized  the 
necessity  for  applying  a  remedy  to  this  evil ;  the  provostship  ceased  to  be  a 
purchasable  office ;  and  he  made  it  separate  from  the  receivership  of  the 
royal  domain.  In  1258  he  chose  as  provost  Stephen  Boileau,  a  burgher  of 
note  and  esteem  in  Paris ;  and  in  order  to  give  this  magistrate  the  authority 
of  which  he  had  need,  the  king  sometimes  came  and  sat  beside  him  when  he 
was  administering  justice  at  the  Chatelet.  Stephen  Boileau  justified  the 
king’s  confidence,  and  maintained  so  strict  a  police  that  he  had  his  own 
godson  hanged  for  theft. 

For  all  his  moral  sympathy,  and  superior  as  he  was  to  his  age,  St.  Louis, 
nevertheless,  shared  and  even  helped  to  prolong  two  of  its  greatest  mistakes  ; 
as  a  Christian  he  misconceived  the  rights  of  conscience  in  respect  of  religion, 
and,  as  a  king,  he  brought  upon  his  people  deplorable  evils  and  perils  for  the 
sake  of  a  fruitless  enterprise. 

St.  Louis  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Philip  III.,  a  prince,  no  doubt,  of 
some  personal  valor,  since  he  has  retained  in  history  the  nickname  of  The 
Bold ,  but  not  otherwise  beyond  mediocrity.  His  reign  had  an  unfortunate 
beginning.  He  came  to  Paris  on  the  21st  of  May,  1271,  bringing  back  with 
him  five  royal  biers,  that  of  his  father,  that  of  his  brother,  John  Tristan, 
count  ol  Nevers,  that  of  his  brother-in-law,  Theobald,  king  of  Navarre,  that  of 
his  wife,  and  that  of  his  son.  The  day  after  his  arrival  he  conducted  them  all 
in  state  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  and  was  crowned  at  Reims  not  until  the 
30th  of  August  following.  His  reign,  which  lasted  fifteen  years,  was  a  period 
of  neither  repose  nor  glory.  He  engaged  in  war  several  times  over  in 
Southern  France  and  in  the  north  of  Spain,  in  1272,  against  Roger  Bernard, 
count  of  Foix,  and  in  1275  against  Don  Pedro  III.,  king  of  Aragon,  attempting 
conquests  and  gaining  victories,  but  becoming  easily  disgusted  with  his 
enterprises  and  gaining  no  result  of  importance  or  durability.  It  was  in  the 
reign  of  Philip  the  Bold  that  there  took  place  in  Sicily,  on  the  30th  of  March, 
1282,  that  notorious  massacre  of  the  French  which  is  known  by  the  name  of 
Sicilian  Vespers ,  which  was  provoked  by  the  unbridled  excesses  of  Charles  of 
Anjou’s  comrades,  and  through  which  many  noble  French  families  had  to 
suffer  cruelly.  At  the  same  time,  the  celebrated  Italian  admiral,  Roger  de 
Loria,  inflicted,  by  sea,  on  the  French  party  in  Italy,  the  Provencal  navy,  and 
the  army  of  Philip  the  Bold,  reverses  and  losses.  The  government  of  Philip 
III.  showed  hardly  more  ability  at  home  than  in  Europe;  he  was  weak, 
credulous,  very  illiterate,  and  without  penetration,  foresight,  or  will.  He  fell 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


54 


[1282 


under  the  influence  of  an  inferior  house  servant,  Peter  de  la  Brosse,  who  had 
been  a  barber. 

In  spite  of  the  want  of  ability  and  the  weakness  conspicuous  in  the 
government  of  Philip  the  Bold,  the  kingship  in  France  had  in  his  reign 
better  fortune  than  could  be  expected. 

A  Flemish  chronicler,  a  monk  at  Egmont,  describes  the  character  of 
Philip  the  Bold’s  successor  in  the  following  words :  “  A  certain  king  of 

France,  also  named  Philip,  eaten  up  by  the  fever  of  avarice  and  cupidity.” 
And  that  was  not  the  only  fever  inherent  in  Philip  IV.,  called  The  Handsome; 
he  was  a  prey  also  to  that  of  ambition,  and  above  all,  to  that  of  power. 
When  he  mounted  the  throne,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  was  handsome, 
as  his  nickname  tells  us,  cold,  taciturn,  harsh,  brave  at  need,  but  without  fire 
or  dash. 

Away  from  his  own  kingdom,  in  his  own  dealings  with  foreign  countries, 
Philip  the  Handsome  had  a  good  fortune,  which  his  predecessors  had  lacked, 
and  which  his  successors  lacked  still  more.  In  spite  of  frequent  interruptions, 
the  reign  of  Edward  I.  was  on  the  whole  a  period  of  peace  between  England 
and  France,  being  exempt,  at  any  rate,  from  premeditated  and  obstinate 
hostilities. 

In  Southern  France,  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  Philip  the  Handsome 
was,  during  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  at  war  with  the  kings  of  Aragon, 
Alphonso  III.  and  Jayme  II.;  but  these  campaigns  were  terminated  by  a 
treaty  concluded  at  Tarascon,  and  have  remained  without  any  historical 
importance.  At  the  time  of  Philip  the  Handsome’s  accession  to  the  throne 
Guy  de  Dampierre,  of  noble  Champagnese  origin,  had  been  for  five  years 
count  of  Flanders,  as  heir  to  his  mother  Marguerite  II.  He  was  a  prince 
who  did  not  lack  courage,  or,  on  a  great  emergency,  high-mindedness  and 
honor ;  but  he  was  ambitious,  covetous,  as  parsimonious  as  his  mother  had 
been  munificent.  In  1293  he  was  secretly  negotiating  the  marriage  of 
Philippa,  one  of  his  daughters,  with  Prince  Edward,  eldest  son  of  the  king  of 
England.  Philip  the  Handsome,  having  received  due  warning,  invited  the 
count  of  Flanders  to  Paris,  “to  take  counsel  with  him  and  the  other  barons 
touching  the  state  of  the  kingdom.”  At  first  Guy  hesitated  ;  but  he  dared 
not  refuse,  and  he  repaired  to  Paris  with  his  sons  John  and  Guy.  The  three 
princes  were  marched  off  at  once  to  the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  where  Guy 
remained  for  six  months.  When  he  was  released,  Count  Guy  returned  to 
Flanders  and  concluded  a  treaty  with  Edward  I.,  and  formally  renounced  his 
allegiance  to  Philip  the  Handsome.  This  meant  war.  And  it  was  prompt 
and  sharp  on  the  part  of  the  king  of  France,  slow  and  dull  on  the  part  of 
the  king  of  England,  who  was  always  more  bent  upon  the  conquest  of 
Scotland  than  upon  defending,  on  the  Continent,  his  ally  the  count  of 
Flanders.  The  French  arms  were  at  first  crowned  with  success.  In  1302  war 
again  broke  out,  but  it  was  no  longer  a  war  between  Philip  the  Handsome 
and  Guy  de  Dampierre  ;  it  was  a  war  between  the  Flemish  communes  and 
their  foreign  oppressors.  Philip  the  Handsome  precipitately  levied  an  army 


I297] 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


5$ 


of  sixty  thousand  men,  says  Villani,  and  gave  the  command  of  it  to  Count 
Robert  of  Artois,  the  hero  of  F'urnes.  The  forces  of  the  Flemings  amounted 
to  no  more  than  twenty  thousand  fighting  men.  The  two  armies  met  near 
Courtrai.  Two  grand  attacks  succeeded  one  another;  the  first  under  the 
orders  of  the  Constable  Raoul  of  Nesle,  the  second  under  those  of  the  count 
of  Artois  in  person.  After  two  hours’  fighting,  both  failed  against  the  fiery 
national  passion  of  the  Flemish  communes,  and  the  two  French  leaders,  the 
Constable  and  the  count  of  Artois,  were  left  both  of  them  lying  on  the 
field  of  battle  amid  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  of  their  dead. 

The  news  of  this  great  defeat  of  the  French  spread  rapidly  throughout 
Europe,  and  filled  with  joy  all  those  who  were  hostile  to  or  jealous  of  Philip 
the  Handsome.  The  wily  monarch  spent  two  years  in  negotiations,  for  the 
purpose  of  gaining  time  and  of  letting  the  edge  wear  off  the  Flemings’ 
confidence.  In  the  spring  of  1304  the  cry  of  war  resounded  everywhere.. 
He  had  taken  into  his  pay  a  Genoese  fleet  commanded  by  Regnier  de 
Grimaldi,  a  celebrated  Italian  admiral;  and  it  arrived  in  the  North  Sea,  and 
blockaded  Zierikzee,  a  maritime  town  of  Zealand.  On  the  10th  of  August, 
1304,  the  Flemish  fleet  which  was  defending  the  place  was  beaten  and 
dispersed.  Philip  hoped  for  a  moment  that  this  reverse  would  discourage  the 
Flemings;  but  it  was  not  so  at  all.  A  great  battle  took  place  on  the  17th  of 
August  between  the  two  land  armies  at  Mons-en-Puelle  near  Lille,  and 
resulted  in  a  Flemish  defeat.  Thus  during  ten  years,  from  1305  to  1314, 
there  was  between  France  and  Flanders  a  continual  alternation  of  reciprocal 
concessions  and  retractions,  of  treaties  concluded  and  of  renewed  insurrections 
without  decisive  and  ascertained  results.  It  was  neither  peace  nor  war. 
Philip  the  Handsome  had  been  nine  years  king  when  Boniface  VIII.  became 
pope.  On  his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  had  testified  an  intention  of 
curtailing  the  privileges  and  powers  of  the  Church.  At  the  time  of  the 
crusades  the  property  of  the  clergy  had  been  subjected  to  a  special  tax  of  a 
tenth  of  the  revenues,  and  this  tax  had  been  several  times  renewed  for 
reasons  other  than  the  crusades.  In  1296  Philip  the  Handsome,  at  war  with 
the  king  of  England  and  the  Flemings,  imposed  upon  the  clergy  two  fresh 
tenths,  and  the  order  of  Citeaux  refused  to  pay  them,  and  addressed  to  the 
pope  a  protest,  with  a  comparison  between  Philip  and  Pharaoh.  Boniface 
addressed  to  the  king  a  bull  called  from  its  first  two  words  Clcricis  laicos. 
Philip  was  mighty  wroth,  but  he  did  not  burst  out,  though  he  contrived  to 
show  his  displeasure  by  means  of  divers  administrative  measures.  A  year 
after  the  bull  Clcricis  laicos  he  modified  it  by  a  new  bull,  which  not  only 
authorized  the  collection  of  two  tenths  voted  by  the  French  bishops,  but 
recognized  the  right  of  the  king  of  France  to  tax  the  French  clergy  with 
their  consent  and  without  authorization  from  the  Holy  See.  An  opportunity 
for  a  splendid  confirmation  of  the  pope’s  universal  supremacy  in  the  Christian 
world  came  to  tempt  him.  A  quarrel  had  arisen  between  Philip  and  the 
archbishop  of  Narbonne  on  the  subject  of  certain  dues  claimed  by  both  in 
that  great  diocese.  Boniface  was  loud  in  his  advocacy  of  the  archbishop 


FRANCE.— THE  KINGSHIP. 


[1297 


against  the  officers  of  the  king;  he  sent  to  Paris,  to  support  his  words, 
Bernard  de  Saisset,  whom  he,  on  his  own  authority,  had  just  appointed 
bishop  of  Pamiers.  On  arriving  in  Paris  as  the  pope’s  legate,  Saisset  made 
use  there  of  violent  and  inconsiderate  language.  Philip  had  at  that  time,  as 
his  chief  councillors,  lay-lawyers,  servants  passionately  attached  to  the 
kingship.  They,  in  their  turn,  rose  up  against  the  doctrine  and  language  of 
the  bishop  of  Famiers.  He  was  arrested  and  committed  to  the  keeping  of 
the  archbishop  of  Narbonne  ;  and  Philip  sent  to  Rome  his  chancellor  Peter 
Flotte  himself  and  William  of  Nogaret,  with  orders  to  demand  the 
condemnation  of  the  bishop  of  Pamiers.  Boniface  replied  by  changing  the 
venue  to  his  own  personal  tribunal  in  the  case  of  Bernard  de  Saisset.  On  the 
5th  of  December,  1301,  he  addressed  to  the  king,  commencing  with  the 
words,  “ Hearken ,  most  dear  Son  ”  (Ausculta,  carissime  fill),  a  long  bull  in 
which,  with  circumlocutions  and  expositions  full  of  obscurity  and  subtlety,  he 
laid  down  and  affirmed,  at  bottom,  the  principle  of  the  final  sovereignty 
of  the  spiritual  power,  being  of  divine  origin,  over  every  temporal  power, 
being  of  human  creation.  On  the  nth  of  February,  1302,  this  bull  was 
burned  at  Paris  in  the  presence  of  the  king.  On  the  8th  of  April  an 
assembly  of  the  barons,  bishops  and  chief  ecclesiastics,  with  the  deputies 
of  the  communes  to  the  number  of  two  or  three  from  each  city,  was 
convoked  by  Philip.  This  assembly,  which  really  met  on  the  10th  of  April 
at  Paris  in  the  church  of  Notre-Dame,  is  reckoned  in  French  history  as  the 
first  “  States-general.”  The  king  evidently  had  on  his  side  the  general  feeling 
of  the  nation,  and  the  publication,  of  a  third  bull,  ( Unam  sanctavi),  which 
threatened  him  with  excommunication,  only  the  more  irritated  him ;  he 
resolved  to  act  speedily.  Notification  must  be  sent  to  the  pope  of  the  king’s 
appeal  to  the  future  council.  Philip  could  no  longer  confide  this  awkward 
business  to  his  chancellor  Peter  Flotte  ;  for  he  had  fallen  at  Courtrai  in  the 
battle  against  the  Flemings.  William  of  Nogaret  undertook  it,  at  the  same 
time  obtaining  from  the  king  a  sort  of  blank  commission,  authorizing  and 
ratifying  in  advance  all  that,  under  the  circumstances,  he  might  consider  it 
advisable  to  do.  Nogaret  was  bold,  ruffianly,  and  clever.  He  repaired  in 
haste  to  Florence  to  the  king’s  banker,  got  a  plentiful  supply  of  money, 
established  communications  in  Anagni,  and  secured,  above  all,  the  co-oper¬ 
ation  of  Sciarra  Colonna.  On  the  7th  of  September,  1303,  Colonna  and  his 
associates  introduced  Nogaret  and  his  following  into  Anagni,  with  shouts  of 
“  Death  to  Pope  Boniface  !  Long  live  the  king  of  France  !  The  populace, 
dumbfounded,  remained  motionless.  The  pope,  deserted  by  all,  even  by  his 
own  nephew,  tried  to  touch  the  heart  of  Colonna  himself,  whose  only  answer 
was  a  summons  to  abdicate,  and  to  surrender  at  discretion.  Thus  outraged  in 
spite  of  his  advanced  years  (he  was  seventy-five),  Boniface  maintained  a 
dauntless  attitude  under  the  grossest  insults,  but  died  very  shortly  after. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1303,  eleven  days  after  the  death  of  Boniface 
VIII.,  Benedict  XI.,  son  of  a  simple  shepherd,  was  elected  at  Rome  to 
succeed  him.  Benedict  XI.  exerted  himself  to  give  satisfaction  to  the 


Seiaria  Colon na  and  William  of  Nogaret  insulting  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  at  Anagni 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  56. 


— 


% 


FRANCE.— THE  COMMUNES. 


57 


I3H] 

conqueror;  Nogaret  and  the  direct  authors  of  the  assault  at  Anagni  were 
alone  excepted  from  the  general  amnesty.  The  pope  reserved  for  a  future 
occasion  the  announcement  of  their  absolution,  when  he  should  consider  it 
expedient.  But,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1304,  instead  of  absolving  them,  he 
launched  a  fresh  bull  of  excommunication  against  “  certain  wicked  men  who 
had  dared  to  commit  a  hateful  crime  against  a  person  of  good  memory,  Pope 
Boniface.’  A  month  after  this  bull  Benedict  XL  was  dead.  The  chroniclers 
of  the  time  imputed  this  crime  to  William  of  Nogaret,  to  the  Colonnas,  and 
to  their  associates  at  Anagni.  The  king  of  France,  who  had  gained  the 
battle  of  Mons-en-Puelle,  then  took  advantage  of  his  success  to  procure  the 
election  of  a  pope  who  would  be  entirely  and  exclusively  his  creature.  The 
archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  Bertrand  de  Got,  proclaimed  under  the  title  of 
Clement  V.,  had  to  accept,  in  return,  the  harshest  conditions,  such  as 
pronouncing  the  condemnation  of  Boniface  VIII.,  transferring  the  Papal  See 
from  Rome  to  Avignon,  authorizing  the  suppression  of  the  order  of  the 
Rights  Templars,  etc.  The  great  wealth  possessed  by  the  order  of.  the 
Temple  was  the  true  cause  of  Philip’s  hatred,  but  as  some  plausible  cause 
was  needed  to  procure  their  condemnation  they  were  accused  of  heresy, 
immorality  and  sacrilege.  The  council  of  Vienne  condemned  them,  but  the 
grand  master,  Jacques  Molay,  protested  of  their  innocence  to  the  very  last. 
“  The  grand  master,  seeing  the  fire  prepared,  stripped  himself  briskly.  I  tell 
just  as  I  saw:  he  bared  himself  to  his  shirt,  light-heartedly  and  with  a  good 
grace,  without  a  whit  of  trembling,  though  he  was  dragged  and  shaken 
mightily.  They  took  hold  of  him  to  tie  him  to  the  stake,  and  they  were 
binding  his  hands  with  a  cord,  but  he  said  to  them,  ‘  Sirs,  suffer  me  to  fold 
my  hands  awhile,  and  make  my  prayer  to  God,  for  verily  it  is  time.  I  am 
presently  to  die ;  but  wrongfully,  God  wot.  Wherefore  woe  will  come,  ere 
long,  to  those  who  condemn  us  without  a  cause.  God  will  avenge  our 
death.’  ” 

A  popular  rumor  soon  spread  abroad  that  Jacques  Molay,  at  his  death, 
had  cited  the  pope  and  the  king  to  appear  with  him,  the  former  at  the  end  of 
forty  days  and  the  latter  within  a  year,  before  the  judgment  seat  of  God. 
Clement  V.  actually  died  on  the  20th  of  April,  1314,  and  Philip  the 
Handsome  on  the  29th  of  November,  1314;  the  pope,  undoubtedly  uneasy  at 
the  servile  acquiescence  he  had  shown  toward  the  king,  and  the  king 
expressing  some  sorrow  for  his  greed,  and  for  the  imposts  with  which  he  had 
burdened  his  people. 

Philip  the  Handsome  left  three  sons,  Louis  X.,  called  le  Hutin  ( the 
Quarreler ),  Philip  V.,  called  the  Long ,  and  Charles  IV.,  called  the  Handsome , 
who,  between  them,  occupied  the  throne  only  thirteen  years  and  ten  months. 
Not  one  of  them  distinguished  himself  by  his  personal  merits  ;  and  the 
events  of  the  three  reigns  hold  scarcely  a  higher  place  in  history  than  the 
actions  of  the  three  kings  do.  Louis  the  Quarreler  had  to  keep  up  the  war 
with  Flanders,  which  was  continually  being  renewed  ;  and  in  order  to  find, 
without  hateful  exactions,  the  necessary  funds,  he  was  advised  to  offer 


58  FRANCE. — THE  COMMUNES  [1315 

freedom  to  the  serfs  of  his  domains  ;  accordingly  he  issued,  on  the  3d  of  July, 

1315,  an  edict  to  that  effect. 

Another  fact  which  has  held  an  important  place  in  the  history  of  France, 
and  exercised  a  great  influence  over  her  destinies,  likewise  dates  from  this 
period ;  and  that  is  the  exclusion  of  women  from  the  succession  to  the 
throne,  by  virtue  of  an  article,  ill  understood,  of  the  Salic  law.  From  the 
time  of  Hugh  Capet  heirs  male  had  never  been  wanting  to  the  crown,  and 
the  succession  in  the  male  line  had  been  a  fact  uninterrupted  indeed,  but  not 
due  to  prescription  or  law.  Louis  the  Quarreler,  at  his  death,  on  the  5th  of 
June,  1315,  left  only  a  daughter,  but  his  second  wife,  Queen  Clemence,  was 
pregnant.  On  the  15th  of  November,  1316,  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  son, 
who  was  named  John,  and  who  figures  as  John  I.  in  the  series  of  French 
kings,  but  the  child  died  at  the  end  of  five  days,  and  on  the  6th  of  January, 

1316,  Philip  the  Long  was  crowned  king  at  Reims.  He  forthwith  sum¬ 
moned,  there  is  no  knowing  exactly  where  and  in  what  numbers,  the  clergy, 
barons,  and  third  estate  who  declared,  on  the  2d  of  February,  that  “the  laws 
and  customs,  inviolably  observed  among  the  Franks,  excluded  daughters  from 
the  crown.”  There  was  no  doubt  about  the  fact  ;  but  the  law  was  not 
established,  nor  even  in  conformity  with  the  entire  feudal  system  or  with 
general  opinion.  But  the  measure  was  evidently  wise  and  salutary  for  France 
as  well  as  for  the  kingship  ;  and  it  was  renewed,  after  Philip  the  Long  died, 
on  the  3d  of  January,  1322,  and  left  daughters  only,  in  favor  of  his  brother 
Charles  the  Handsome,  who  died,  in  his  turn,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1328, 
and  likewise  left  daughters  only.  The  question  as  to  the  succession  to  the 
throne  then  lay  between  the  male  line  represented  by  Philip,  count  of  Valois, 
grandson  of  Philip  the  Bold  through  Charles  of  Valois  his  father,  and  the 
female  line  represented  by  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  grandson,  through 
his  mother  Isabel,  sister  of  the  late  king  Charles  the  Handsome,  of  Philip  the 
Handsome.  A  war  of  more  than  a  century’s  duration  between  France  and 
England  was  the  result  of  this  lamentable  rivalry,  which  all  but  put  the 
kingdom  of  France  under  an  English  king;  but  France  was  saved  by  the 
stubborn  resistance  of  the  national  spirit  and  by  Joan  of  Arc  inspired  by 
God. 

This  period  was  likewise  the  cradle  of  the  French  nation.  That  was  the 
time  when  it  began  to  exhibit  itself  in  its  different  elements,  and  to  arise 
under  monarchical  rule  from  the  midst  of  the  feudal  system.  The  Communes , 
which  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  Third  Estate ,  are  the  first  to  appear 
in  history.  They  appear  there  as  local  facts,  isolated  one  from  another, 
often  very  different  in  point  of  origin,  though  analogous  in  their  aim,  and  in 
every  case  neither  assuming  nor  pretending  to  assume  any  place  in  the 
government  of  the  State.  It  is  exactly  then  that  the  Third  Estate  comes  to 
the  front,  and  uplifts  itself  as  a  general  fact,  a  national  element,  a  political 
power.  It  is  the  successor,  not  the  contemporary,  of  the  Communes ;  they 
contributed  much  toward,  but  did  not  suffice  for  its  formation  ;  it  drew  upon 
other  resources,  and  was  developed  under  other  influences  than  those  which 


i328] 


FRANCE.— THE  THIRD  ESTATE. 


59 


gave  existence  to  the  communes.  When  they  succeeded,  they  obtained  those 
treaties  of  peace  called  charters ,  which  brought  about  in  the  condition  of  the 
insurgents  salutary  changes  accompanied  by  more  or  less  effectual  guarantees. 
When  they  failed  or  when  the  charters  were  violated,  the  result  was  violent 
reactions,  mutual  excesses ;  the  relations  between  the  populations  and  their 
lords  were  tempestuous  and  full  of  vicissitude ;  but  at  bottom  neither  the 
political  regimen  nor  the  social  system  of  the  communes  were  altered. 

At  the  very  time  that  the  communes  were  perishing,  and  the  kingship  was 
growing,  a  new  power,  a  new  social  element,  the  Third  Estate ,  was  springing 
up  in  France  ;  and  it  was  called  to  take  a  far  more  important  place  in  the  history 
of  France,  and  to  exercise  far  more  influence  upon  the  fate  of  the  French  father- 
land  than  it  had  been  granted  to  the  communes  to  acquire  during  their  short 
and  incoherent  existence. 

Taking  the  history  of  France  in  its  entirety  and  under  all  its  phases,  the 
third  estate  has  been  the  most  active  and  determining  element  in  the  process 
of  French  civilization.  If  we  follow  it  in  its  relation  with  the  general  gov¬ 
ernment  of  the  country,  we  see  it  at  first  allied  for  six  centuries  to  the  king- 
ship.  But,  so  soon  as  it  had  gained  this  victory  and  brought  about  this 
revolution,  the  third  estate  went  in  pursuit  of  a  new  one,  attacking  that  single 
power  to  the  foundation  of  which  it  had  contributed  so  much,  and  entering 
upon  the  task  of  changing  pure  monarchy  into  constitutional  monarchy. 

This  fact  is  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world.  We  recognize  in  the 
career  of  the  chief  nations  of  Asia  and  ancient  Europe  nearly  all  the  great 
facts  which  have  agitated  France;  but  nowhere  is  there  any  appearance  of  a 
class  which,  starting  from  the  very  lowest,  from  being  feeble,  despised,  and 
almost  imperceptible  at  its  origin,  rises  by  perpetual  motion  and  by  labor 
without  respite,  strengthens  itself  from  period  to  period,  acquires  in  succession 
whatever  it  lacked,  wealth,  enlightenment,  influence,  changes  the  face  of  soci¬ 
ety  and  the  nature  of  government,  and  arrives  at  last  at  such  a  pitch  of 
predominance  that  it  may  be  said  to  be  absolutely  the  country. 

Not  only  is  the  fact  new,  but  it  is  a  fact  eminently  French,  essentially 
national.  Nowhere  has  burgherdom  had  so  wide  and  so  productive  a  career  as 
that  which  fell  to  its  lot  in  France.  There  have  been  communes  in  the  whole 
of  Europe,  in  Italy,  Spain,  Germany,  and  England,  as  well  as  in  France,  but 
there  has  not  really  been  a  victorious  third  estate  anywhere  except  in  France. 


V. 


WAR. 


§§*  N  the  fourteenth  century  a  new  and  a  vital  question 
arose  ;  will  the  French  dominion  preserve  its  nationality? 
Will  the  kingship  remain  French  or  pass  to  the  for¬ 
eigner?  This  question  brought  ravages  upon  France  and 
kept  her  fortunes  in  suspense  for  a  hundred  years  of  war 
with  England,  from  the  reign  of  Philip  of  Valois  to  that 
of  Charles  VII.;  and  a  young  girl  of  Lorraine,  called  Joan 


of  Arc,  had  the  glory  of  communicating  to  France  that  decisive 
impulse  which  brought  to  a  triumphant  issue  the  independence  of 
the  French  nation  and  kingship. 

Some  weeks  after  his  accession,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1 328,  Philip 
was  crowned  at  Reims,  in  presence  of  a  brilliant  assemblage  of 
princes  and  lords,  French  and  foreign  ;  next  year,  on  the  6th  of 
June,  Edward  IIP,  king  of  England,  being  summoned  to  fulfill  a 
vassal’s  duties  by  doing  homage  to  the  king  of  France  for  the 
duchy  of  Aquitaine,  which  he  held,  appeared  in  the  cathedral  of 
Amiens,  with  his  crown  on  his  head,  his  sword  at  his  side,  and  his 
gilded  spurs  on  his  heels  ;  and  on  the  30th  of  March,  1331,  he  recognized,  by 
letters  express,  “  that  the  said  homage  which  we  did  at  Amiens  to  the  king  of 
France  in  general  terms,  is,  and  must  be  understood  as  liege:  and  that  we  are 
bound,  as  duke  of  Aquitaine,  and  peer  of  France,  to  show  him  faith  and  loy¬ 
alty.’ 


The  relations  between  the  two  kings  were  not  destined  to  be  for  long  so 
courteous  and  so  pacific. 

The  reader  is  referred  to  the  History  of  England  for  a  record  of  the  con¬ 
tinued  strife  between  Philip  VI.  and  the  English  king,  Edward  IIP,  the 
principal  events  of  which  are  as  follows : 

1328  Philip  VI.,  king  of  France,  gains  the  battle  of  Cassel.  1336  Ed¬ 
ward  IIP  of  England  supports  the  cause  of  the  Flemings  against  Philip 
VI.  of  France.  1337  Froissart  born.  1340  Edward  IIP  defeats  the  French 
in  a  naval  engagement  near  Sluys :  truce  of  four  years.  1341  Beginning 
of  the  war  for  the  succession  of  Brittany,  between  Charles  of  Blois  and 
John  of  Montfort.  Petrarch  crowned  at  the  Capital.  1344  Edward  IIP 
renews  the  war  with  France.  1346  Battle  of  Cressy.  1347  Calais  surrenders 
to  Edward  IIP  after  a  siege  of  eleven  months  and  a  few  days.  William 
of  Ockham  died.  1348  The  black  plague.  The  Jews  persecuted.  1349 
Session  of  Vienness  and  of  Montpelier  to  France. 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


6 1 


i35o] 

In  the  latter  part  of  1349  Philip  of  Valois  himself,  now  fifty-eight  years  of 
age,  took  for  his  second  wife  Blanche  of  Navarre,  who  was  only  eighteen. 
She  was  a  sister  of  that  young  king  of  Navarre,  Charles  II.,  who  was  soon  to- 
get  the  name  of  Charles  the  Bad,  and  to  become  so  dangerous  an  enemy  of 
Philip’s  successors.  Seven  months  after  his  marriage,  and  on  the  22d  of 
August,  1350,  Philip  died  at  Nogent-le-Roi  in  the  Haute-Marne,  strictly 
enjoining  his  son  John  to  maintain  with  vigor  his  well  ascertained  right  to  the 
crown  he  wore,  and  leaving  his  people  bowed  down  beneath  a  weight  “of 
extortions  so  heavy  that  the  like  had  never  been  seen  in  the  kingdom  of 
France.” 

His  successor,  John  II.,  called  the  Good,  on  no  other  ground  than  that  he- 
was  gay,  prodigal,  credulous  and  devoted  to  his  favorites,  did  nothing  but 
reproduce,  with  aggravations,  the  faults  and  reverses  of  his  father. 

He  compromised  more  and  more  seriously  every  day  his  own  safety  and 
that  of  his  successor  by  vexing  more  and  more,  without  destroying,  his  most 
dangerous  enemy.  He  showed  no  greater  prudence  or  ability  in  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  his  kingdom.  And,  nevertheless,  King  John’s  necessities  were  more 
evident  and  more  urgent  than  ever:  war  with  England  had  begun  again. 

The  truth  is  that,  in  spite  of  the  truce  still  existing,  the  English,  since 
the  accession  of  King  John,  had  at  several  points  resumed  hostilities.  The 
disorders  and  dissensions  to  which  France  was  a  prey  now  offered  strong; 
inducements  to  the  English  king.  The  full  account  of  the  invasion  of  France 
and  the  battles  which  finally  resulted  in  the  capture  of  King  John  is  given  in 
the  History  of  England. 

The  dauphin  Charles,  aged  nineteen,  in  spite  of  his  youth  and  his  any¬ 
thing  but  glorious  retreat  from  Poitiers,  took  the  title  of  lieutenant  of  the 
king,  and  had  hardly  re-entered  Paris,  on  the  29th  of  September,  when  he 
summoned,  for  the  15th  of  October,  the  States-general  of  Languedoc,  who 
met,  in  point  of  fact,  on  the  17th,  in  the  great  chamber  of  parliament.  Fresh 
subsidies  were  granted,  but  only  on  very  hard  conditions.  The  deputies 
demanded  of  Charles  “  that  he  should  deprive  of  their  offices  such  of  the 
king’s  councillors  as  they  should  point  out,  have  them  arrested,  and  confiscate 
all  their  property.”  A  plot  against  the  marshals,  headed  by  Stephen  Marcel, 
came  to  the  apartments  of  the  dauphin,  and  after  some  conversation  Marcel 
said  :  “  My  lord  duke,  do  not  alarm  yourself ;  but  we  have  somewhat  to  do 
here  and  turned  toward  his  fellows  in  the  caps,  saying,  “  Dearly  beloved, 
do  that  for  the  which  ye  are  come.”  The  mob  immediately  massacred  the  Lord 
de  Conflans,  marshal  of  Champagne,  and  Robert  de  Clermont,  marshal  of 
Normandy,  both  at  the  time  unarmed,  so  close  to  the  dauphin  that  his  robe 
was  covered  with  their  blood.  The  dauphin  shuddered,  and  the  rest  of  his 
officers  fled.  “Take  no  heed,  lord  duke,”  said  Marcel;  “you  have  naught  to 
fear.”  He  handed  to  the  dauphin  his  own  red  and  blue  cap,  and  himself  put 
on  the  dauphin’s,  which  was  of  black  stuff  with  golden  fringe.  The  corpses  of 
the  two  marshals  were  dragged  into  the  courtyard  of  the  palace,  where  they 
remained  until  evening.  The  king  of  Navarre  was  recalled  from  Nantes  to 


62 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


[  350 


Paris,  and  the  dauphin  was  obliged  to  assign  to  him,  in  the  king’s  name,  “  as  a 
make-up  for  his  losses,”  10,000  livres  a  year  on  landed  property  in  Languedoc. 
On  the  25th  of  March,  the  young  prince  succeeded  in  leaving  Paris,  and 
repaired  first  of  all  to  Senlis,  and  then  to  Provins,  where  he  found  the  estates 
of  Champagne  eager  to  welcome  him. 

The  insurrection  of  the  Jacques  Bonhomme  (or  Jack  Goodfellows)  gave 
Marcel,  as  he  thought,  an  opportunity  to  assert  his  power.  The  nobles,  the 
dauphin,  and  the  king  of  Navarre,  a  prince  and  a  noble  at  the  same  time  that 
die  was  a  scoundrel,  made  common  cause  against  the  Goodfellows.  In  Beau- 
vaisis  the  king  of  Navarre,  after  having  made  a  show  of  treating  with  their 
'chieftain,  William  Karle  or  Callet,  got  possession  of  him,  and  had  him 
beheaded.  He  then  moved  upon  a  camp  of  Goodfellows  assembled  near 

Montidier,  slew  three  thousand  of  them  and  dispersed  the  remainder. 
Marcel  from  that  moment  perceived  that  his  cause  was  lost,  and  he  gave 
liimself  up  to  his  own  safety.  He  sought  to  betray  France  to  the  English, 
and  would  have  succeeded  if  John  Maillart,  another  burgher  of  Paris,  had  not 
put  an  end  to  his  life  July  31st,  1358.  On  the  2d  of  August  the  dauphin 
Charles  re-entered  Paris,  accompanied  by  John  Maillart.  On  being  re-settled 
in  the  capital,  he  showed  neither  clemency  nor  cruelty.  He  let  the  reaction 
against  Stephen  Marcel  run  its  course,  and  turned  it  to  account  without  further 
exciting  it  or  prolonging  it  beyond  measure.  Marcel’s  widow  even  recovered 
a  portion  of  his  property  ;  and  as  early  as  the  10th  of  August,  1358,  Charles 
published  an  amnesty,  from  which  he  excepted  only  “  those  who  had  been  in 
the  secret  council  of  the  provost  of  tradesmen  in  respect  of  the  great  trea¬ 
son  ;  and  on  the  same  day  another  amnesty  quashed  all  proceeding  for  deeds 
done  during  the  Jacquery ,  “  whether  by  nobles  or  ignobles.”  Charles  knew 
that  in  acts  of  rigor  or  of  grace  impartiality  conduces  to  the  strength  and  the 
reputation  of  authority. 

A  reconciliation  then  took  place  between  him  and  the  king  of  Navarre, 
whose  wife,  Joan  of  France,  was  the  dauphin’s  sister.  “The  town  of 
Melun,”  says  the  chronicler,  “was  restored  to  the  lord  duke;  the  navi¬ 
gation  of  the  river  once  more  became  free  up  stream  and  down ;  great 
was  the  satisfaction  in  Paris  and  throughout  the  whole  country ;  and, 
peace  being  thus  made,  the  two  princes  returned  both  of  them  home.” 

The  treaty  of  London  and  its  rejection  by  the  States-general,  another 
invasion  of  France  by  Edward  and  his  siege  of  Paris,  the  subsequent 
treaty  and  the  release  of  King  John,  are  all  recorded  in  our  history  of 
England.  The  violation  of  the  treaty  upon  which  John  had  been  released 
induced  him  to  return  to  England.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  London 
he  fell  seriously  ill,  and  died  on  the  8th  of  April,  1364,  at  the  Savoy; 
France  was  at  last  about  to  have  in  Charles  V.  a  practical  and  an 
effective  king. 

In  spite  of  the  discretion  he  had  displayed  during  his  four  years 
of  regency  (from  1356  to  1360)  his  reign  opened  under  the  saddest 
auspices.  In  1363,  one  of  those  contagious  diseases,  all  at  that  time 


I37/J 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


63 


called  the  plague,  committed  cruel  ravages  in  France.  King  Charles  V. 
had  a  very  difficult  work  before  him.  Between  himself  and  his  great 
rival,  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  there  was  only  such  a  peace  as 
was  fatal  and  hateful  to  France.  To  escape  some  day  from  the  treaty 
of  Bretigny  and  recover  some  of  the  provinces  which  had  been  lost  by 
it — this  was  what  king  and  country  secretly  desired  and  labored  for. 
Pending  a  favorable  opportunity  for  promoting  this  highest  interest,  war 
went  on  in  Brittany  between  John  of  Montfort  and  Charles  of  Blois, 
who  continued  to  be  encouraged  and  patronized,  covertly,  one  by  the 
king  of  England,  the  other  by  the  king  of  France.  Almost  immediately 
after  the  accession  of  Charles  V.  it  broke  out  again  between  him  and 
his  brother-in-law  Charles  the  Bad,  king  of  Navarre,  the  former  being 
profoundly  mistrustful  and  the  latter  brazen-facedly  perfidious,  and  both 
detesting  one  another  and  watching  to  seize  the  moment  for  taking 
advantage  one  of  the  other.  Charles  V.  had  recourse  three  times,  in 
July,  1367,  and  in  May  and  December,  1369,  to  a  convocation  of  the 
States-general,  in  order  to  be  put  in  a  position  to  meet  the  political 
and  financial  difficulties  of  France.  It  was  his  good  fortune,  besides, 
to  find  among  his  servants  a  man  to  be  the  thunderbolt  of  war  and 
the  glory  of  knighthood  of  his  reign ;  we  mean  Bertrand  du  Guesclin, 
a  Breton  gentleman,  who  had  already  distinguished  himself  on  the  field 
of  battle.  Having  received  the  command  of  the  royal  troops,  he  inaugurated 
the  new  reign  by  the  victory  of  Cocherel,  when  he  defeated  John  de 
Grailly,  capital  of  Buch,  the  best  of  the  generals  of  the  king  of  Navarre. 
Charles  the  Bad  lost  by  this  affair  nearly  all  his  possessions  in  Normandy- 

Charles  V.,  encouraged  by  his  success,  determined  to  take  part  like¬ 
wise  in  the  war  which  was  still  going  on  between  the  two  claimants  to 
the  duchy  of  Brittany,  Charles  of  Blois  and  John  of  Montfort.  Du  Guesclin 
was  sent  to  support  Charles  of  Blois ;  he  entered  at  once  on  the  campaign, 
and  marched  upon  Auray,  which  was  being  besieged  by  the  count  of 
Montfort.  The  battle  took  place  on  the  29th  of  September,  1364,  before 
Auray ;  Charles  of  Blois  was  killed  and  Du  Guesclin  was  made  prisoner. 
The  cause  of  John  of  Montfort  was  clearly  won  ;  and  he,  on  taking  possession 
of  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  asked  nothing  better  than  to  acknowledge 
himself  vassal  of  the  king  of  France  and  swear  fidelity  to  him.  The 
subsequent  Spanish  campaign,  the  death  of  the  Black  Prince  and  of  his 
father,  Edward  III.,  are  recorded  in  the  history  of  England. 

While  England  thus  lost  her  two  great  chiefs  France  still  kept  hers. 
For  three  years  longer  Charles  V.  and  Du  Guesclin  remained  at  the 
head  of  her  government  and  her  armies.  A  truce  between  the  two  king¬ 
doms  had  been  twice  concluded,  between  1375  and  1377:  it  was  still 
in  force  when  the  prince  of  Wales  died,  and  Charles,  ever  careful  to 
practice  knightly  courtesy,  had  a  solemn  funeral  service  performed  for 
him.  Having  fallen  sick  before  Chateauneuf-Randon,  a  place  he  was 
besieging  in  the  Gevaudan,  Du  Guesclin  expired  on  the  13th  of  July 


64 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


[1380 


1380,  at  sixty-six  years  of  age,  and  his  last  words  were  an  exhortation 
to  the  veteran  captains  around  him  “  never  to  forget  that,  in  whatso¬ 
ever  country  they  might  be  making  war,  churchmen,  women,  children, 
and  the  poor  people  were  not  their  enemies.” 

Two  months  after  the  constable’s  death,  on  the  16th  of  September, 
1380,  Charles  V.  died  at  the  castle  of  Beaute-sur-Marne,  near  Vincennes, 
at  forty-three  years  of  age,  quite  young  still  after  so  stormy  and  hard¬ 
working  a  life.  His  contemporaries  were  convinced,  and  he  was  himself 
convinced,  that  he  had  been  poisoned  by  his  perfidious  enemy,  King 
Charles  of  Navarre. 

Charles  V.,  taking  upon  his  shoulders  at  nineteen  years  of  age, 
first  as  king’s  lieutenant  and  as  dauphin  and  afterward  as  regent,  the 
government  of  France,  employed  all  his  soul  and  his  life  in  repairing  the 
disasters  arising  from  the  wars  of  his  predecessors  and  preventing  any 
repetition.  No  sovereign  was  ever  more  resolutely  pacific;  he  carried 
prudence  even  into  the  very  practice  of  war.  Scarcely  was  Charles  V.  laid 
on  his  bier  when  it  was  seen  what  a  loss  he  was  and  would  be  to  his 
kingdom.  Discord  arose  in  the  king’s  own  family.  In  order  to  shorten 
the  ever  critical  period  of  minority,  Charles  V.  had  fixed  the  king’s 
majority  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  His  son,  Charles  VI.  was  not  yet 
twelve,  and  so  had  two  years  to  remain  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
four  uncles,  the  dukes  of  Anjou,  Berry,  Burgundy,  and  Bourbon ;  but 
the  last,  being  only  a  maternal  uncle  and  a  less  puissant  prince  than 
his  paternal  uncles  it  was  between  the  other  three  that  strife  began 
for  temporary  possession  of  the  kingly  power. 

The  city  of  Ghent  in  particular  joined  complaint  with  menace,  and  in 
1381  the  quarrel  became  war;  and  in  November  of  the  following  year 
the  king  of  France  and  his  army  marched  into  Flanders  in  support  of 
the  count.  Several  towns,  Cassel,  Bergues,  Gravelines,  and  Turnhout, 
hastily  submitted  to  him  ;  and  on  the  28th  of  November  the  two  armies 
found  themselves  close  together  at  Rosebecque,  between  Ypres  and  Courtrai. 

The  victory  of  Rosebecque  was  a  great  cause  for  satisfaction  and 
pride  to  Charles  VI.  and  his  uncle,  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  They  had 
conquered  on  the  field  in  Flanders  the  commonalty  of  Paris  as  well  as 
that  of  Ghent;  and  in  France  there  was  great  need  of  such  a  success. 

Free  at  last  from  the  surveillance  of  his  uncles,  Charles  VI.  married 
Isabel  of  Bavaria  whose  wantonness  was  destined  to  bring  the  kingdom 
to  the  verge  of  destruction.  Now,  yielding  to  the  impetuous  suggestions 
of  his  character,  he  prepared  against  England  a  gigantic  armament,  which  the 
delays  of  the  duke  of  Berry  rendered  useless.  Matters  were  getting 
worse  in  France,  when  a  serious  misfortune  came  to  destroy  the  already 
exhausted  constitution  of  the  king,  and  to  give  up  the  country  to  the 
unprincipled  ambition  of  his  uncles.  On  the  13th  of  June,  1392,  the 
constable,  Oliver  de  Clisson,  was  waylaid  as  he  was  returning  home  after 
a  banquet  given  by  the  king  at  the  hostel  of  St.  Paul.  The  assassin 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


65 


1409] 

was  Peter  de  Craon,  cousin  of  John  IV.,  duke  of  Brittany.  He  believed 
De  Clisson  to  be  dead,  and  left  him  bathed  in  blood  at  a  baker’s  door 
in  the  street  called  Culture-Sainte-Catherine.  While  preparing  a  war  against 
the  duke  of  Brittany  to  discover  the  assassin  who  had  hidden  there 
the  king  was  struck  with  madness.  A  fair  young  Burgundian,  Odette 
de  Champdivers,  was  the  only  one  among  his  many  favorites  who  was 
at  all  successful  in  soothing  him  during  his  violent  fits.  For  thirty  years, 
from  1392  to  1422,  the  crown  remained  on  the  head  of  this  poor  madman, 
while  France  was  a  victim  to  the  bloody  quarrels  of  the  royal  house, 
to  national  dismemberment,  to  licentiousness  in  morals,  to  civil  anarchy, 
and  to  foreign  conquest. 

The  dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Berry  being  thus  in  possession  of  power 
excercised  it  for  ten  years,  from  1392  to  1402,  without  any  great  dispute 
between  themselves,  the  duke  of  Burgundy’ s  influence  being  predominant, 
or  with  the  king,  who,  save  certain  lucid  intervals,  took  merely  a  nominal  part 
in  the  government.  During  this  period  no  event  of  importance  disturbed 
France  internally.  In  1393  the  king  of  England,  Richard  II.,  son  of  the 
Black  Prince,  sought  in  marriage  the  daughter  of  Charles  VI.,  Isabel  of 
France,  only  eight  years  old.  The  contract  was  signed  on  the  9th  of 
March,  1396.  (See  History  of  England.) 

Rivalries,  intrigues  and  scandals  of  every  kind  surrounded  the  court 
of  the  mad  king.  His  wife,  Isabel  of  Bavaria,  was  far  too  intimate 
with  his  brother,  the  duke  of  Orleans.  In  the  very  midst  of  a  court 
crisis  Philip  the  Bold  suddenly  died  of  illness  April  27th,  1404.  John 
the  Fearless,  count  of  Nevers,  his  son  and  successor,  was  a  man  of 
violence,  unscrupulous  and  indiscrete,  full  of  jealousy  and  hatred,  and 
capable  of  any  deed  and  risk  for  the  gratification  of  his  passions.  At 
his  accession  he  made  some  popular  moves ;  he  appeared  disposed  to 
prosecute  vigorously  the  war  against  England,  which  was  going  on  slug¬ 
gishly  ;  he  testified  a  certain  spirit  of  conciliation  by  going  to  pay  a  visit 
to  his  cousin,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  lying  ill  at  his  castle  of  Beaute, 
near  Vincennes.  When  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  well  again,  the  two  princes 
took  the  communion  together  and  dined  together  at  their  uncle’s,  the 
duke  of  Berry’s ;  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  invited  the  new  duke  of 
Burgundy  to  dine  with  him  the  next  Sunday.  The  Parisians  took  pleasure  in 
observing  these  little  matters,  and  in  hoping  for  the  re-establishment  of 
harmony  in  the  royal  family.  They  were  soon  to  be  cruelly  undeceived. 

On  the  23d  of  November,  1407,  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  murdered  in  the 
streets  of  Paris  by  ruffians  hired  for  the  purpose  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy, 
who  openly  dared  to  justify  the  assassination. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy’s  negotiations  at  Tours  were  not  fruitless.  The 
result  was  that  on  the  9th  of  March,  1409,  a  treaty  was  concluded  and  an 
interview  effected  at  Chartres  between  the  duke  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other 
the  king,  the  queen,  the  dauphin,  all  the  royal  family,  the  councillors  of  the 
crown,  the  young  duke  of  Orleans,  his  brother,  and  a  hundred  knights  of  their 
S 


66  FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR.  [1410 

house,  all  met  together  to  hear  the  king  declare  that  he  pardoned  the  duke  of 
Burgundy. 

From  1410  to  1415  France  was  a  prey  to  civil  war  between  the  Armag- 
nacs  and  Burgundians,  and  to  their  alternate  successes  and  reverses,  brought 
about  by  the  unscrupulous  employment  of  the  most  odious  and  desperate 
means.  The  Burgundians  had  generally  the  advantage  in  the  struggle,  for 
Paris  was  chiefly  the  center  of  it,  and  their  influence  was  predominant  there. 
Their  principal  allies  there,  says  the  chronicle,  were  the  butchers.  Both 
parties  were  anxious  to  secure  the  support  of  the  king  of  England.  The 
Armagnacs  had  promised  the  half  of  Franee  to  Henry,  and  thus  induced  him 
to  espouse  their  quarrel.  The  duke  of  Burgundy,  however,  and  Charles  II., 
whom  he  had  in  his  power,  declared  them  enemies  of  the  State,  and  besieged 
them  in  the  city  of  Bourges  (1412).  There  a  peace  was  concluded,  but  proved 
of  very  short  duration.  The  death  of  Henry  of  Lancaster,  by  lessening  the 
immediate  chances  of  a  foreign  war,  rendered  the  conflict  at  home  much  more 
terrible. 

This  time,  and  after  the  useless  assembly  of  the  States-general  in  1413,  the 
Cabochians  committed  such  excesses  in  Paris  that  the  citizens  came  to  an 
understanding  to  expel  them.  The  Armagnacs  immediately  entered  the 
metropolis,  and  not  only  maintained  themselves  there,  but,  commanded  by 
Charles  VI.,  pursued  their  enemies  as  far  as  Arras.  A  peace  of  short  dura¬ 
tion  followed  and  then  the  war  with  England  was  renewed,  for  which  see  the 
History  of  England.  The  battle  of  Agincourt  was  fought  October  23d,  1415. 

The  Parisian  population  was  becoming  every  day  more  Burgundian.  In 
the  latter  days  of  May,  1418,  a  plot  was  contrived  for  opening  to  the  Bur¬ 
gundians  one  of  the  gates  of  Paris.  Perrinet  Leclerc,  son  of  a  rich  iron  mer¬ 
chant,  having  influence  in  the  quarter  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  stole  the  keys 
from  under  the  bolster  of  his  father’s  bed  ;  a  troop  of  Burgundian  men-at- 
arms  came  in,  and  they  were  immediately  joined  by  a  troop  of  Parisians. 
They  spread  over  the  city,  shouting,  “Our  Lady  of  Peace!  Hurrah  for  the 
king!  Hurrah  for  Burgundy!  Let  all  who  wish  for  peace  take  arms  and 
follow  us!  ”  The  people  swarmed  from  the  houses  and  followed  them  accord¬ 
ingly.  The  Armagnacs  were  surprised  and  seized  with  alarm.  Tanneguy 
Duchatel,  a  man  of  prompt  and  resolute  spirit,  ran  to  the  dauphin’s,  wrapped 
him  in  his  bedclothes,  and  carried  him  off  to  the  Bastile,  where  he  shut  him 
up  with  several  of  his  partizans. 

Henry  of  England  negotiated  with  both  parties;  but  though  Burgundy 
and  the  queen,  having  possession  of  the  person  of  the  afflicted  sovereign, 
carried  the  appearance  of  legal  authority,  every  Frenchman  who  paid  any 
regard  to  the  true  interests  of  his  country  adhered  to  the  dauphin.  From 
the  enmity  of  the  contending  factions  a  circumstance  occurred  which 
facilitated  Henry’s  views  more  readily  than  he  could  possibly  have  antici¬ 
pated.  A  simulated  reconciliation  having  taken  place  between  the  duke  of 
Burgundy  and  the  dauphin,  an  interview  was  appointed  on  the  bridge  of  the 
town  of  Montereau.  The  duke  of  Burgundy  came  to  this  meeting  against  the 


1422] 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


6; 

advice  of  his  friends  and  was  murdered  by  Tanneguy  Duchatel,  who  told  him 
that  the  time  had  come  to  expiate  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  which 
none  of  them  had  forgotten.  This  was  on  September  ioth,  1419. 

Henry  V.,  king  of  England,  as  soon  as  he  heard  about  the  murder  of 
Duke  John,  set  himself  to  work  to  derive  from  it  all  the  advantages  he  anti¬ 
cipated.  “  A  great  loss,”  said  he,  “  is  the  duke  of  Burgundy ;  he  was  a  good  and 
true  knight  and  an  honorable  prince;  but  through  his  death  we  are,  by  God’s 
help,  at  the  summit  of  our  wishes.  We  shall  thus,  in  spite  of  all  Frenchmen, 
possess  dame  Catherine ,  whom  we  have  so  much  desired.”  As  early  as  the 
24th  of  September,  1419,  Henry  V,  gave  full  powers  to  certain  of  his  people 
to  treat  “with  the  illustrious  city  of  Paris  and  the  other  towns  in  adherence 
to  the  said  city.”  On  the  17th  of  October  was  opened  at  Arras  a  congress 
between  the  plenipotentiaries  of  England  and  those  of  Burgundy.  On  the 
20th  of  November  a  special  truce  was  granted  to  the  Parisians,  while  Henry 
V.,  in  concert  with  Duke  Philip  of  Burgundy,  was  prosecuting  the  war  against 
the  dauphin.  On  the  2d  of  December  the  bases  were  laid  of  an  agreement 
between  the  English  and  the  Burgundians.  The  preliminaries  of  the  treaty 
which  was  drawn  up  in  accordance  with  these  bases  were  signed  on  the  9th  of 
April,  1420,  by  King  Charles  VI.,  and  on  the  20th  communicated  at  Paris  by  the 
chancellor  of  France  to  the  parliament  and  to  all  the  religious  and  civil,  royal 
and  municipal  authorities  of  the  capital.  After  this  communication,  the 
chancellor  and  the  premier  president  of  parliament  went  with  these  prelimina¬ 
ries  to  Henry  V.  at  Pontoise,  whence  he  set  out  with  a  division  of  his  army 
for  Troyes,  where  the  treaty,  definitive  and  complete,  was  at  last  signed  and 
promulgated  in  the  cathedral  of  Troyes,  on  the  21st  of  May,  1420. 

Toward  the  end  of  August,  1422,  Henry  V.  fell  ill;  and,  too  stout-hearted 
to  delude  himself  as  to  his  condition,  he  thought  no  longer  of  anything  but 
preparing  himself  for  death.  He  expired  at  Vincennes  on  the  31st  of  August, 
1422,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four.  A  great  soul  and  a  great  king;  but  a  great 
example  also  of  the  boundless  errors  which  may  be  fallen  into  by  the  greatest 
men  when  they  pursue  with  arrogant  confidence  their  own  views,  forgetting 
the  laws  of  justice  and  the  rights  of  other  men. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1422,  less  than  two  months  after  the  death  of 
Henry  V.,  Charles  VI.,  king  of  France,  died  at  Paris  in  the  forty-third  year  of 
his  reign.  As  soon  as  he  had  been  buried  at  St.  Denis,  the  duke  of  Bedford, 
regent  of  France  according  to  the  will  of  Henry  V.,  caused  a  herald  to  pro¬ 
claim,  “  Long  live  Henry  of  Lancaster,  king  of  England  and  of  France!”  The 
people’s  voice  made  very  different  proclamation.  It  had  always  been  said 
that  the  public  evils  proceeded  from  the  state  of  illness  into  which  the 
unhappy  King  Charles  had  fallen. 

It  was  only  when  he  knew  that,  on  the  27th  of  October,  the  parliament 
of  Paris  had,  not  without  some  little  hesitation  and  ambiguity,  recognized, 
“  as  king  of  England  and  France,  Henry  VI.,  son  of  Henry  V.  lately  deceased,” 
that  the  dauphin  Charles  assumed,  on  the  30th  of  October,  in  his  castle  of 


68  FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR.  [1428 

Mehun-sur-Yevre,  the  title  of  king  and  repaired  to  Bourges  to  inaugurate  in 
the  cathedral  of  that  city  his  reign  as  Charles  VII. 

Six  years  later,  on  the  6th  of  January,  1428,  at  Domremy,  a  little  village 
in  the  valley  of  the  Meuse,  between  Neufchateau  and  Vaucouleurs,  on  the 
edge  of  the  frontier  from  Champagne  to  Lorraine,  the  young  daughter  of 
simple  tillers  of  the  soil,  “  of  good  life  and  repute,  herself  a  goodr  simple, 
gentle  girl,  no  idler,  occupied  hitherto  in  sewing  or  spinning  with  her  mother 
or  driving  afield  her  parent’s  sheep,  and  sometimes  even,  when  her  father’s 
turn  came  round,  keeping  for  him  the  whole  flock  of  the  commune,”  was 
fulfilling  her  sixteenth  year.  It  was  Joan  of  Arc,  whom  all  her  neighbors 
called  Joannette.  Her  early  childhood  was  passed  amid  the  pursuits  charac¬ 
teristic  of  a  country  life ;  her  behavior  was  irreproachable,  and  she  was  robust, 
active,  and  intrepid.  Her  imagination  becoming  inflamed  by  the  distressed 
situation  of  France,  she  dreamed  that  she  had  interviews  with  St.  Margaret, 
St.  Catherine  and  St.  Michael,  who  commanded  her,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  go 
and  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  conduct  Charles  to  be  crowned  at  Reims. 
Accordingly  she  applied  to  Robert  de  Baudricourt,  captain  of  the  neighboring 
town  of  Vaucouleurs,  revealing  to  him  her  inspiration,  and  conjuring  him  not 
to  neglect  the  voice  of  God,  which  spoke  through  her.  This  officer  for  some 
time  treated  her  with  neglect ;  but  at  length,  prevailed  on  by  repeated  impor¬ 
tunities,  he  sent  her  to  the  king  at  Chinon,  to  whom,  when  introduced,  she 
said  :  “  Gentle  dauphin,  my  name  is  Joan  the  Maid.  The  King  of  heaven  hath 
sent  me  to  your  assistance.  If  you  please  to  give  me  troops,  by  the  grace  of 
God  and  the  force  of  arms,  I  will  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  conduct  you 
to  be  crowned  at  Reims,  in  spite  of  your  enemies.”  Her  requests  were  now 
granted :  she  was  armed  cap-a-pie ,  mounted  on  horseback,  and  provided  with 
a  suitable  retinue. 

Joan’s  first  undertaking  was  against  Orleans,  which  she  entered  without 
opposition  on  the  29th  of  April,  1429,  on  horseback,  completely  armed,  pre¬ 
ceded  by  her  own  banner,  and  having  beside  her  Dunois,  and  behind  her  the 
captains  of  the  garrison  and  several  of  the  most  distinguished  burgesses  of 
Orleans,  who  had  gone  out  to  meet  her.  The  population,  one  and  all,  rushed 
thronging  round  her,  carrying  torches,  and  greeting  her  arrival  “with  joy  as 
great  as  if  they  had  seen  God  come  down  among  them.”  With  admira¬ 
ble  good  sense,  discovering  the  superior  merits  of  Dunois,  the  bastard  of 
Orleans,  a  celebrated  captain,  she  wisely  adhered  to  his  instructions,  and  by 
constantly  harassing  the  English,  and  beating  up  their  intrenchments  in 
various  desperate  attacks,  in  all  of  which  she  displayed  the  most  heroic 
courage,  Joan  in  a  few  weeks  compelled  the  earl  of  Suffolk  and  his  army  to 
raise  the  siege,  having  sustained  the  loss  of  six  thousand  men.  The  proposal 
of  crowning  Charles  at  Reims  would  formerly  have  appeared  like  madness, 
but  the  Maid  of  Orleans  now  insisted  on  its  fulfillment.  She  accordingly 
recommenced  the  campaign  on  the  10th  of  June;  to  complete  the  deliverance 
of  Orleans  an  attack  was  begun  upon  the  neighboring  places,  Jargeau,  Meung 
and  Beaugency ;  thousands  of  the  late  dispirited  subjects  of  Charles  now 


Joan  of  Arc,  the  Maid  of  Orleaug. 
Page  68. 


' 


1430] 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


69 


flocked  to  his  standard,  many  towns  immediately  declared  for  him,  and  the 
English,  who  had  suffered  in  various  actions — at  that  of  Jargeau,  when  the  earl 
of  Suffolk  was  taken  prisoner,  and  at  that  of  Patay,  when  Sir  John  Fastolfe 
fled  without  striking  a  blow — seemed  now  to  be  totally  dispirited.  On  the 
16th  of  July  King  Charles  entered  Reims,  and  the  ceremony  of  his  corona¬ 
tion  was  fixed  for  the  morrow. 

It  was  solemn  and  emotional,  as  are  all  old  national  traditions  which 
recur  after  a  forced  suspension.  Joan  rode  between  Dunois  and  the 
archbishop  of  Reims,  chancellor  of  France.  The  air  resounded  with 
the  Te  Deum ,  sung  with  all  their  hearts  by  clergy  and  crowd.  “In 
God’s  name,”  said  Joan  to  Dunois,  “here  is  a  good  people  and  a  devout; 
when  I  die,  I  should  much  like  it  to  be  in  these  parts.”  “  Joan,”  inquired 
Dunois,  “know  you  when  you  will  die  and  in  what  place?”  “I  know 
not,”  said  she,  “  for  I  am  at  the  will  of  God.”  Then  she  added,  “  I 
have  accomplished  that  which  my  Lord  commanded  me,  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Orleans  and  have  the  gentle  king  crowned.  I  would  like  it 
well  if  it  should  please  Him  to  send  me  back  to  my  father  and  mother, 
to  keep  their  sheep  and  their  cattle  and  do  that  which  was  my 
wont.”  “  When  the  said  lords,”  says  the  chronicler,  an  eye-witness, 
“heard  these  words  of  Joan,  who,  with  eyes  toward  heaven,  gave  thanks 
to  God,  they  the  more  believed  that  it  was  somewhat  sent  from  God 
and  not  otherwise.” 

Historians  and  even  contemporaries  have  given  much  discussion  to 
the  question  whether  Joan  of  Arc,  according  to  her  first  ideas,  had 
really  limited  her  design  to  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Orleans  and 
the  coronation  of  Charles  VII.  at  Reims.  However  that  may  be, 
when  Orleans  was  relieved  and  Charles  VII.  crowned,  the  situation,  posture, 
and  part  of  Joan  underwent  a  change.  She  no  longer  manifested  the 
same  confidence  in  herself  and  her  designs.  She  no  longer  excercised 
over  those  in  whose  midst  she  lived  the  same  authority.  She  continued 
to  carry  on  war,  but  at  hap-hazard,  sometimes  with  and  sometimes  without 
success,  just  like  La  Hire  and  Dunois  ;  never  discouraged,  never  satisfied, 
and  never  looking  upon  herself  as  triumphant.  After  the  coronation,  her 
advice  was  to  march  at  once  upon  Paris,  in  order  to  take  up  a  fixed 
position  in  it,  as  being  the  political  center  of  the  realm  of  which  Reims 
was  the  religious.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was  done.  She  threw  herself 
into  Compiegne,  then  besieged  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  The  next  day 
(May  25th,  1430),  heading  a  sally  upon  the  enemy,  she  was  repulsed 
and  compelled  to  retreat  after  exerting  the  utmost  valor;  when,  having 
nearly  reached  the  gate  of  the  town,  an  English  archer  pursued  her, 
and  pulled  her  from  her  horse.  The  joy  of  the  English  at  this  capture 
was  as  great  as  if  they  had  obtained  a  complete  victory.  Joan  was 
committed  to  the  care  of  John  of  Luxembourg,  count  of  Ligny,  from 
whom  the  duke  of  Bedford  purchased  the  captive  for  ten  thousand 
pounds,  and  a  pension  of  three  hundred  pounds  a  year  to  the  bastard 


70 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


[1431 

of  Vendome,  to  whom  she  surrendered.  Joan  was  now  conducted  to 
Rouen,  where,  loaded  with  irons,  she  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  preparatory 
to  appear  before  a  court  assembled  to  judge  her. 

The  trial  lasted  from  the  21st  of  February  to  the  30th  of  May,  143 1  ► 
The  court  held  forty  sittings,  mostly  in  the  chapel  of  the  castle,  some 
in  Joan’s  very  prison.  On  her  arrival  there,  she  had  been  put  into  an 
iron  cage ;  afterward  she  was  kept  “  no  longer  in  the  cage,  but  in  a  dark 
room  in  a  tower  of  the  castle,  wearing  irons  upon  her  feet,  fastened 
by  a  chain  to  a  large  piece  of  wood,  and  guarded  night  and  day  by 
four  or  five  soldiers  of  low  grade.”  She  complained  of  being  thus  chained  ;; 
but  the  bishop  told  her  that  her  former  attempts  at  escape  demanded 
this  precaution.  “It  is  true/'  said  Joan,  as  truthful  as  heroic,  “I  did 
wish  and  I  still  wish  to  escape  from  prison,  as  is  the  right  of  every 
prisoner.”  At  her  examination,  the  bishop  required  her  to  take  “  an 
oath  to  tell  the  truth  about  everything  as  to  which  she  should  be 
questioned.”  “  I  know  not  what  you  mean  to  question  me  about.  Perchance 
you  may  ask  me  things  I  would  not  tell  you.  Touching  my  revelations, 
for  instance,  you  might  ask  me  to  tell  something  I  have  sworn  not  to 
tell ;  thus  I  should  be  perjured,  which  you  ought  not  to  desire.”  The 
bishop  insisted  upon  an  oath  absolute  and  without  condition.  “You  are 
too  hard  on  me,”  said  Joan;  “I  do  not  like  to  take  an  oath  to  tell 

the  truth  save  as  to  matters  which  concern  the  faith.”  The  bishop 

called  upon  her  to  swear  on  pain  of  being  held  guilty  of  the  things 
imputed  to  her.  “  Go  on  to  something  else,”  said  she.  And  this  was. 

the  answer  she  made  to  all  questions  which  seemed  to  her  to  be  a 

violation  of  her  right  to  be  silent.  Wearied  and  hurt  at  these  imperious, 
demands,  she  one  day  said,  “  I  come  on  God’s  business,  and  I  have 
naught  to  do  here ;  send  me  back  to  God  from  whom  I  come.”  “  Are 
you  sure  you  are  in  God’s  grace?”  asked  the  bishop.  “If  I  be  not,” 
answered  Joan,  “please  God  to  bring  me  to  it;  and  if  I  be,  please  God 
to  keep  me  in  it !  ”  The  bishop  himself  remained  dumbfounded. 

There  is  no  object  in  following  through  all  its  sittings  and  all  its 
twistings  this  odious  and  shameful  trial,  in  which  the  judges’  prejudiced 
servility  and  scientific  subtlety  were  employed  for  three  months  to  wear 
out  the  courage  or  overreach  the  understanding  of  a  young  girl  of  nine¬ 
teen,  who  refused  at  one  time  to  lie,  and  at  another  to  enter  into 
discussion  with  them,  and  made  no  defense  beyond  holding  her  tongue 
or  appealing  to  God,  who  had  spoken  to  her  and  dictated  to  her  that 
which  she  had  done.  In  the  end  she  was  condemned  for  all  the  crimes 
of  which  she  had  been  accused,  aggravated  by  that  of  heresy,  and 
sentenced  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  to  be  fed  during  life  on  bread  and 
water.  The  English  were  enraged  that  she  was  not  condemned  to  death. 
“Wait  but  a  little,”  said  one  of  the  judges,  “we  shall  soon  find  the 
means  to  ensnare  her.”  And  this  was  effected  by  a  grievous  accusation, 
which,  though  somewhat  countenanced  by  the  Levitical  law,  has  been 


FRANCE. — THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


7* 


1456] 

seldom  urged  in  modern  times — the  wearing  of  man’s  attire.  Joan  had 
been  charged  with  this  offense,  but  she  promised  not  to  repeat  it.  A 
suit  of  man’s  apparel  was  designedly  placed  in  her  chamber,  and  her 
own  garments,  as  some  authors  say,  being  removed,  she  clothed  herself 
in  the  forbidden  garb,  and  her  keepers  surprising  her  in  that  dress, 
she  was  adjudged  to  death  as  a  relapsed  heretic,  and  was  condemned  to 
be  burnt  in  the  market-place  at  Rouen  (1431). 

Four  centuries  have  rolled  by  since  Joan  of  Arc,  that  modest  and 
heroic  servant  of  God,  made  a  sacrifice  of  herself  for  France.  For  four 
and  twenty  years  after  her  death,  France  and  the  king  appeared  to  think 
no  more  of  her.  However,  in  1455,  remorse  came  upon  Charles  VII.  and 
upon  France.  Nearly  all  the  provinces,  all  the  towns  were  freed  from  the 
foreigner;  and  shame  was  felt  that  nothing  was  said,  nothing  done  for 
the  young  girl  who  had  saved  everything.  At  Rouen,  especially,  where 
the  sacrifice  was  completed,  a  cry  for  reparation  arose.  It  was  timidly 
demanded  from  the  spiritual  power  which  had  sentenced  and  delivered 
over  Joan  as  a  heretic  to  the  stake.  Pope  Calixtus  III.  entertained  the 
request  preferred,  not  by  the  king  of  France,  but  in  the  name  of  Isabel 
Romee,  Joan’s  mother,  and  her  whole  family.  Regular  proceedings  were 
commenced  and  followed  up  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  martyr ;  and, 
on  the  7th  of  July,  1456,  a  decree  of  the  court  assembled  at  Rouen 
quashed  the  sentence  of  1431,  together  with  all  its  consequences,  and 
ordered  “  a  general  procession  and  solemn  sermon  at  St.  Ouen  Place  and 
the  Vieux-Marche,  where  the  said  maid  had  been  cruelly  and  horribly 
burned  ;  besides  the  planting  of  a  cross  of  honor  ( crucis  Jionestce)  on  the 
Vieux-Marche,  the  judges  ordered  the  official  notice  to  be  given  of  their 
decision  throughout  the  cities  and  notable  places  of  the  realm.” 

After  the  execution  of  Joan  the  war  resumed  its  course,  and  we  again 
refer  the  reader  to  the  History  of  England  for  a  narrative  of  the  events. 

On  certain  conditions  the  capitulation  of  Bordeaux  was  concluded 
and  signed  on  the  17th  of  October,  1453 ;  the  English  re-embarked  and 
Charles,  without,  entering  Bordeaux,  returned  to  Touraine.  The  English 
had  no  longer  any  possession  in  France  but  Calais  and  Guines.  The 
Hundred  Years’  War  was  over. 

And  to  whom  was  the  glory  due  ? 

Charles  VII.  himself  decided  the  question.  When  in  1455,  twenty-four 
years  after  the  death  of  Joan  of  Arc,  he  at  Rome  and  at  Rouen  prosecuted 
her  claims  for  restoration  of  character  and  did  for  her  fame  and  her  memory 
all  that  was  still  possible,  he  was  but  relieving  his  conscience  from  a  load  of 
ingratitude  and  remorse,  which  in  general  weighs  but  lightly  upon  men,  and 
especially  upon  kings.  La  Pucellc ,  first  among  all,  had  a  right  to  the  glory, 
for  she  had  been  the  first  to  contribute  to  the  success. 

Next  to  Joan  of  Arc  the  constable  De  Richemont  was  the  most  effective 
and  the  most  glorious  among  the  liberators  of  France  and  of  the  king.  He 
was  a  strict  and  stern  warrior,  unscrupulous  and  pitiless  toward  his  enemies, 


7  2 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS’  WAR. 


[1456 

severe  in  regard  to  himself,  dignified  in  his  manners,  never  guilty  of  swearing 
himself,  and  punishing  swearing  as  a  breach  of  discipline  among  the  troops 
placed  under  his  orders.  Dunois,  La  Hire,  Xaintrailles,  and  marshals  De 
Boussac  and  De  Lafayette  were,  under  Charles  VII.,  brilliant  warriors  and 
useful  servants  of  the  king  and  of  France. 

Besides  all  these  warriors  we  meet,  under  the  sway  of  Charles  VII.,  at 
first  in  a  humble  capacity  and  afterward  at  his  court,  in  his  diplomatic 
service  and  sometimes  in  his  closest  confidence,  a  man  of  quite  a  different 
origin  and  quite  another  profession,  but  one  who,  nevertheless,  acquired  by 
peaceful  toil  great  riches  and  great  influence;  we  mean  Jacques  Coeur,  born 
at  Bourges  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century.  This  eminent  man,  after 
acquiring  a  large  fortune  by  commercial  transactions,  rose  to  the  post  of 
argcntier,  or  administrator  of  the  royal  exchequer.  In  this  quality  he  was  for 
twelve  years  associated  with  the  most  important  government  transactions, 
and  he  administered  the  finances  with  the  greatest  probity  and  uprightness. 

In  whatever  light  it  is  regarded,  the  government  of  Charles  VII.  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  reign  brought  him  not  only  in  France,  but  throughout 
Europe,  a  great  deal  of  fame  and  power.  When  he  had  driven  the  English 
out  of  his  kingdom  he  was  called  Charles  the  Victorious ;  and  when  he  had 
introduced  into  the  internal  regulations  of  the  State  so  many  important  and 
effective  reforms  he  was  called  Charles  the  Well-served.  “  The  sense  he  had 
by  nature,”  says  his  historian  Chastellain,  “  had  been  increased  to  twice  as 
much  again  in  his  straitened  fortunes  by  long  constraint  and  perilous  dangers, 
which  sharpened  his  wits  perforce.”  “  He  is  the  king  of  kings,”  was  said  of 
him  by  the  doge  of  Venice,  Francis  Foscari,  a  good  judge  of  policy:  “there 
is  no  doing  without  him.’’ 

Nevertheless,  at  the  close,  so  influential  and  so  tranquil,  of  his  reign, 
Charles  VII.  was  in  his  individual  and  private  life  the  most  desolate,  the  most 
harassed,  and  the  most  unhappy  man  in  his  kingdom.  The  dauphin  Louis, 
after  having  from  his  very  youth  behaved  in  a  facetious,  harebrained,  turbulent 
way  toward  the  king  his  father,  had  become  at  one  time  an  open  rebel,  at 
another  a  venomous  conspirator  and  a  dangerous  enemy.  At  his  birth,  in 
1423,  he  had  been  named  Louis  in  remembrance  of  his  ancestor  St.  Louis,  and 
in  hopes  that  he  would  resemble  him.  In  1440,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  he 
allied  himself  with  the  great  lords,  who  were  displeased  with  the  new 
military  system  established  by  Charles  VII.,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn 
by  them  into  the  transient  rebellion  known  by  the  name  of  Praguery.  In 
1456,  in  order  to  escape  from  the  perils  brought  upon  him  by  the  plots  which 
he  in  the  heart  of  Dauphiny  was  incessantly  hatching  against  his  father, 
Louis  fled  from  Grenoble  and  went  to  take  refuge  in  Brussels  with  the  duke 
of  Burgundy,  Philip  the  Good,  who  willingly  received  him,  at  the  same  time 
excusing  himself  to  Charles  VII.  “  on  the  ground  of  the  respect  he  owed  to 
the  son  of  his  suzerain,”  and  putting  at  the  disposal  of  Louis,  “  his  guest,”  a 
pension  of  thirty-six  thousand  livres.  At  Brussels  the  dauphin  remained 
impassive,  waiting  with  scandalous  indifference  for  the  news  of  his  father’s 


1465] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XI. 


73 


death.  Charles  sank  into  a  state  of  profound  melancholy  and  general  distrust. 
At  last,  deserted  by  them  of  his  own  household  and  disgusted  with  his  own 
life,  he  died  on  the  22d  of  July,  1461. 


(1461-1515.) 

ENTLEMEN,”  said  Dunois,  on  rising  from  table  at  the 
funeral-banquet  held  at  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis  in  honor 
of  the  obsequies  of  King  Charles  VII.,  “we  have  lost 
our  master ;  let  each  look  after  himself.”  The  old 
warrior  foresaw  that  the  new  reign  would  not  be  like  that 
which  had  just  ended. 

At  the  accession  of  Louis  XI.  the  feudal  system  was 
still  powerful.  Against  this  the  king  began  a  desperate  warfare, 
and  the  first  decrees  which  he  published  were  as  much  the 
expression  of  his  hatred,  as  of  his  determination  to  do  away  with 
every  reminiscence  of  his  father’s  government.  Thoroughly 
irritated  by  these  measures,  and  by  others  besides,  such  as  that 
which  deprived  the  duke  of  Burgundy  of  the  lieutenancy  of 
Normandy,  which  had  first  been  bestowed  upon  him,  the  great 
malcontents  formed  together,  at  the  end  of  1464,  an  alliance  “  for 
to  remonstrate  with  the  king,”  says  Commynes,  “  upon  the  bad  order  and 
injustice  he  kept  up  in  his  kingdom,  considering  themselves  strong  enough  to 
force  him  if  he  would  not  mend  his  ways ;  and  this  war  was  called  the  common 


weal,  because  it  was  undertaken  under  color  of  being  for  the  common  weal  of 
the  kingdom,  the  which  was  soon  converted  into  private  weal.”  The  number 
of  the  declared  malcontents  increased  rapidly ;  and  the  chiefs  received  at 
Paris  itself,  in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  the  adhesion  and  the  signatures  of 
those  who  wished  to  join  them.  Louis  XI.  had  no  sooner  obtained  a  clear 
insight  into  the  league  of  the  princes  than  he  set  to  work  with  his  usual 
activity  and  knowledge  of  the  world  to  checkmate  it.  Between  the  League  of 
the  Common  Weal  and  Louis  XI.  there  was  a  question  too  great  to  be,  at  the 
very  outset,  settled  peacefully.  At  the  beginning  Louis  had,  in  Auvergne 
and  in  Berry,  some  successes  which  decided  a  few  of  the  rebels,  the  most 
insignificant,  to  accept  truces  and  enter  upon  parleys  :  but  the  great  princes, 
the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  Brittany,  and  Berry,  waxed  more  and  more  angry. 

The  two  armies  met  at  Montlhery,  on  the  16th  of  July,  1465.  Breze, 
who  commanded  the  king’s  advance  guard,  immediately  went  into  action  and 
was  one  of  the  first  to  be  killed.  Louis  came  up  to  his  assistance  with  troops 
in  rather  loose  order;  the  affair  became  hot  and  general  ;  the  French  fora 


74  FRANCE.— LOUIS  XI.  [1465 

moment  wavered,  but  soon  the  wavering  was  transferred  to  the  Burgundians, 
and  the  advantage  virtually  remained  on  the  side  of  the  French. 

Negotiations  for  peace  speedily  followed.  Two  distinct  treaties  were 
concluded  :  one  at  Conflans  on  the  5th  of  October,  1465,  between  Louis  and 
the  count  of  Charolais  ;  and  the  other  at  St.  Maur  on  the  29th  of  October, 
between  Louis  and  the  other  princes  of  the  league.  By  one  or  the  other  of 
the  treaties  the  king  granted  nearly  every  demand  that  had  been  made  upon 
him.  Scarcely  were  the  treaties  signed  and  the  princes  returned  each  to  his  own 
dominions  when  a  quarrel  arose  between  the  duke  of  Brittany  and  the  new 
duke  of  Normandy.  Louis,  having  his  movements  free,  suddenly  entered 
Normandy  to  retake  possession  of  it  as  a  province  which,  notwithstanding  the 
cession  of  it  just  made  to  his  brother,  the  king  of  France  could  not  dispense 
with.  Evreux,  Gisors,  Gournay,  Louviers,  and  even  Rouen  fell,  without 
much  resistance,  again  into  his  power. 

In  order  to  be  safe  in  the  direction  of  Burgundy  as  well  as  that  of 
Brittany,  Louis  had  entered  into  negotiations  with  Edward  IV.,  king  of 
England,  and  had  made  him  offers,  which  seemed  to  trench  upon  the  rights 
of  the  duke  of  Burgundy  to  certain  districts  of  Picardy. 

Duke  Philip  the  Good,  who  had  for  some  time  past  been  visibly  declining 
in  body  and  mind,  was  visited  at  Bruges  by  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  soon 
discovered  to  be  fatal.  A  few  days  after  his  death  several  of  the  principal 
Flemish  cities,  Ghent  first  and  then  Liege,  rose  against  the  new  duke  of 
Burgundy  in  defense  of  their  liberties,  already  ignored  or  threatened.  The 
intrigues  of  Louis  were  not  unconnected  with  these  seditions.  But  the  new 
duke  of  Burgundy  was  speedily  triumphant  over  the  Flemish  insurrections, 
and  after  these  successes,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1467,  he  was  so  powerful 
and  so  unfettered  in  his  movement  that  Louis  might  with  good  reason  fear 
the  formation  of  a  fresh  league  among  his  great  neighbors  in  coalition 
against  him.  He  summoned  the  States-general  to  a  meeting  at  Tours  on  the 
1st  of  April,  1498,  and  obtained  from  them  the  annulment  of  the  concessions 
he  had  made,  more  particularly  with  reference  to  Normandy,  a  province  which 
was  within  so  dangerous  a  proximity  of  England. 

Thus  fortified  Louis,  by  the  treaty  of  Ancenis,  signed  on  September 
10th,  1468,  put  an  end  to  his  differences  with  Francis  II.,  duke  of  Brittany, 
who  gave  up  his  alliance  with  the  house  of  Burgundy,  and  undertook  to 
prevail  upon  Duke  Charles  of  France  to  accept  an  arbitration  for  the  purpose 
of  settling,  before  two  years  were  over,  the  question  of  his  territorial 
appanage  in  the  place  of  Normandy.  In  the  mean  while  a  pension  of  sixty 
thousand  livres  was  to  be  paid  by  the  crown  to  that  prince.  Thus  Louis  was 
left  with  the  new  duke,  Charles  of  Burgundy,  as  the  only  adversary  he  had  to 
face.  His  advisers  were  divided  as  to  the  course  to  be  taken  with  this 
formidable  vassal.  Accordingly  he  started  for  Noyon  on  the  2d  of  October, 
taking  with  him  the  constable,  the  cardinal,  his  confessor,  and,  for  all  his 
escort,  four  score  of  his  faithful  Scots  and  sixty  men-at-arms.  Duke  Charles 
went  to  meet  him  outside  the  town  ;  they  embraced  one  another  and  returned 


'i-  '  ■  •  ■*•.»•  »^v33hKVc t : •»  .  •  '  ••■-  .  ■! . 


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>'  .ilut-V/V  '., 

Swc'^.’; 

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rf.ii.jS5i; 


Charles  the  Hash  compelling  King  Louis  to  sign  the  Treaty  of  Peronne,  1468 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  75. 


1475] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XI. 


75 


on  foot  to  Peronne,  chatting  familiarly,  and  the  king  with  his  hand  resting  on 
the  duke’s  shoulder  in  token  of  amity.  “  King  Louis,  on  coming  to  Peronne, 
had  not  considered  that  he  had  sent  two  ambassadors  to  the  folks  of  Liege  to 
excite  them  against  the  duke.  The  Liegese  came  and  took  by  surprise  the 
town  of  Tongres,  wherein  were  the  bishops  of  Liege  and  the  lord  of 
Humbercourt.”  The  fugitives  who  reported  this  news  at  Peronne  made  the 
matter  a  great  deal  worse  than  it  was  ;  they  had  no  doubt,  they  said,  but  that 
the  bishop  and  Sire  d’Humbercourt  had  also  been  murdered  ;  and  Charles  had 
no  more  doubt  about  it  than  they.  Exasperated  by  so  glaring  an  act  of 
treachery,  Charles  the  Rash  confined  his  sovereign  within  the  tower  where 
Charles  the  Simple  had  died  in  929,  and  there,  through  the  happy  mediation 
of  Philip  de  Commynes,  compelled  him  to  sign  the  treaty  of  Peronne  (1468). 
But  the  deliverance  of  Louis  XI.  and  the  new  treaty  which  he  had  signed 
were  but  temporary  breaks  in  the  struggle. 

Between  1468  and  1477,  from  the  incident  at  Peronne  to  the  death  of 
Charles  at  the  siege  of  Nancy,  the  history  of  the  two  princes  was  nothing  but 
one  constant  alternation  between  ruptures  and  readjustments,  hostilities  and 
truces,  wherein  both  were  constantly  changing  their  posture,  their  language, 
and  their  allies.  In  1471  St.  Quentin  opened  its  gates  to  Count  Louis  of  St. 
Pol,  constable  of  France.  The  next  year  (1472)  war  broke  out.  Duke 
Charles  laid  siege  to  Beauvais,  and  on  the  27th  of  June  delivered  the  first 
assault.  The  inhabitants  were  at  this  moment  left  almost  alone  to  defend 
their  town.  A  young  girl  of  eighteen,  Joan  Fourquet,  whom  a  burgher’s  wife 
of  Beauvais,  Madame  Laisne,  her  mother  by  adoption,  had  bred  up  in  the 
history,  still  so  recent,  of  Joan  of  Arc,  threw  herself  into  the  midst  of  the 
throng,  holding  up  her  little  axe  ( hachette )  before  the  image  of  St.  Angadresme, 
patroness  of  the  town,  and  crying,  “  O  glorious  virgin,  come  to  my  aid  r  to 
arms  !  to  arms  !  "  The  assault  was  repulsed  ;  re-enforcements  came  up  from 
Noyon,  Amiens,  and  Paris,  under  the  orders  of  the  Marshal  de  Rouault. 
Charles  remained  for  twelve  days  longer  before  the  place,  looking  for  a  better 
chance  ;  but  on  the  12th  of  July  he  decided  upon  raising  the  siege,  and  took 
the  road  to  Normandy.  Some  days  before  attacking  Beauvais  he  had  taken, 
not  without  difficulty,  Nesle  in  the  Vermandois. 

Between  the  two  rivals  in  France,  relations  with  England  were  a  subject 
of  constant  maneuvering  and  strife.  In  spite  of  reverses  on  the  Continent 
and  civil  wars  in  their  own  island  the  kings  of  England  had  not  abandoned 
their  claims  to  the  crown  of  France  ;  they  were  still  in  possession  of  Calais  * 
and  the  memory  of  the  battles  of  Crecy,  Poitiers,  and  Agincourt  was  still  a 
tower  of  strength  to  them. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy,  as  soon  as  he  found  out  that  the  king  of  France 
had  made  peace  for  seven  years  with  the  king  of  England,  saw  that  his 
attempts,  so  far,  were  a  failure.  Accordingly  he  lost  no  time  in  signing  (on 
the  13th  of  September,  1475)  a  treaty  with  King  Louis  for  nine  years. 
Charles  suddenly  entered  Lorraine,  took  possession  of  several  castles,  had  the 
inhabitants  who  resisted  hanged,  besieged  Nancy,  which  made  a  valiant 


;6 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XI. 


[1476 


defense,  and  ended  by  conquering  the  capital  as  well  as  the  country  places, 
leaving  Duke  Rene  no  asylum  but  the  court  of  Louis  XI.  Scarcely  two 
months  after  the  capture  of  Nancy,  Charles  set  out,  on  the  nth  of  June,  1476, 
to  avenge  his  client,  prince  of  the  house  of  Savoy,  and  wreak  his  haughty  and 
turbulent  humor  upon  these  bold  peasants  of  the  Alps. 

In  spite  of  the  truce  he  had  but  lately  concluded  with  Charles  the  Rash, 
the  prudent  Louis  did  not  cease  to  keep  an  attentive  watch  upon  him.  A 
late  occurrence  had  still  further  strengthened  his  position  :  his  brother  Charles, 
who  became  duke  of  Guienne,  in  1469,  after  the  treaty  of  Peronne,  had  died 
on  the  24th  of  May,  1472.  Louis  was  suspected  of  having  poisoned  his 
brother.  At  any  rate  this  event  had  important  results  for  him,  for  it  restored 
to  him  the  beautiful  province  of  Guienne  and  many  a  royal  client.  Of  the  great 
feudal  chieftains  who,  in  1464,  had  formed  against  him  the  League  of  the 
Common  Weal ,  the  duke  of  Burgundy  was  the  only  one  left  on  the  scene  and 
in  a  condition  to  put  him  in  peril. 

The  possessions  of  Charles  consisted  of  the  duchy  and  county  of 
Burgundy  on  the  one  side,  and  of  the  Netherlands  on  the  other — feudal 
regime  here,  communal  regime  there.  He  wished  to  be  a  king,  and  with  the 
hope  of  obtaining  the  creation  of  a  kingdom  of  Belgian-Gaul  he  had  courted 
the  alliance  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  III.,  promising  to  the  Archduke 
Maximilian  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Mary.  Nothing  resulted  from  this 
scheme  on  account  of  the  sudden  death  of  the  emperor.  Charles  the  Rash,  mad 
with  fury,  then  turned  against  Germany  and  signed  with  Louis  XI.  the  peace 
of  Soleure,  which  has  been  called  Treve  Marchande ,  on  account  of  the 
stipulations  it  contained  respecting  the  freedom  of  commerce  between  France, 
England,  and  the  Netherlands.  Charles  started  from  Besancon  on  the  6th  of 
February  to  take  the  field  with  an  army  of  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  men, 
provided  with  a  powerful  artillery,  and  accompanied  by  an  immense  baggage- 
train.  At  the  rumor  of  such  an  armament  the  Swiss  attempted  to  keep  off  the 
war  from  their  country.  Charles,  however,  gave  no  heed,  saw  nothing  in  their 
representations  but  an  additional  reason  for  hurrying  on  his  movements  with 
confidence,  and  on  the  19th  of  February  arrived  before  Granson,  a  little  town 
in  the  district  of  Vaud,  where  war  had  already  begun.  There  he  was 
tremendously  beaten  by  the  Swiss.  During  his  two  campaigns  against  them, 
the  duke  of  Lorraine,  Rene  II.,  whom  he  had  despoiled  of  his  dominions  and 
driven  from  Nancy,  had  been  wandering  among  neighboring  princes  and 
people  in  France,  Germany,  and  Switzerland,  at  the  courts  of  Louis  XI.  and 
the  Emperor  Frederick  III.,  on  visits  to  the  patricians  of  Berne  and  in  the  free 
towns  of  the  Rhine.  His  partisans  in  Lorraine  recovered  confidence  in  his 
fortunes,  the  city  of  Strasbourg  gave  him  some  cannon,  four  hundred  cavalry, 
and  eight  hundred  infantry  ;  Louis  XI.  lent  him  some  money  ;  and  Rene 
before  long  found  himself  in  a  position  to  raise  a  small  army  and  retake  the 
majority  of  the  minor  towns  in  Lorraine.  Finally  he  attacked  and  defeated 
the  Burgundians  at  Nancy  on  January  the  5th,  1477.  The  duke  was  killed  on 
the  field  of  battle.  Charles  the  Rash  had  left  only  a  daughter,  Mary  of 


1475] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XI. 


77 


Burgundy,  sole  heiress  of  all  his  dominions.  On  the  18th  of  August,  1477. 
seven  months  after  the  battle  of  Nancy  and  the  death  of  Charles  the  Rash, 
Archduke  Maximilian,  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  III.,  arrived  at  Ghent  to 
wed  Mary  of  Burgundy.  Next  day,  August  19th,  the  marriage  was  celebrated 
with  great  simplicity  in  the  chapel  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  ;  and  Maximilian 
swore  to  respect  the  privileges  of  Ghent.  A  few  days  afterward  he  renewed 
the  same  oath  at  Bruges,  in  the  midst  of  decorations  bearing  the  modest 
device,  “  Most  glorious  prince,  defend  us  lest  we  perish.”  Not  only  did  Louis 
XI.  thus  fail  in  his  first  wise  design  of  incorporating  with  France,  by  means  of 
a  marriage  between  his  son  the  dauphin  and  Princess  Mary,  the  heritage  of 
the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  but  he  suffered  the  heiress  and  a  great  part  of  the 
heritage  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  son  of  the  German  emperor.  In  vain, 
when  the  marriage  of  Maximilian  and  Mary  was  completed,  did  Louis  XI. 
attempt  to  struggle  against  his  new  and  dangerous  neighbor.  His  campaigns 
in  the  Flemish  provinces,  in  1478  and  1479,  had  no  great  result ;  he  lost,  on 
the  7th  of  August,  1479,  the  battle  of  Guinegate,  and  before  long,  tired  of 
war,  he  ended  by  concluding  with  Maximilian  a  truce  at  first,  and  then  a 
peace,  which,  in  spite  of  some  conditionals  favorable  to  France,  left  the 
principal  and  the  fatal  consequences  of  the  Austro-Burgundian  marriage  to 
take  full  effect.  This  event  marked  the  stoppage  of  that  great  national 
policy  which  had  prevailed  during  the  first  part  of  Louis  XI.’s  reign.  That 
was  as  salutary  as  it  was  glorious  for  the  nation  and  the  French  kingship.  At 
the  death  of  Charles  the  Rash  the  work  was  accomplished,  Louis XI.  was 
the  only  power  left  in  France,  without  any  great  peril  from  without  and  with¬ 
out  any  great  rival  within  ;  but  he  then  fell  under  the  sway  of  mistaken  ideas 
and  a  vicious  spirit.  Not  only  did  he  hunt  down  implacably  the  men  who, 
after  having  served  him,  had  betrayed  or  deserted  him  ;  he  reveled  in  the 
vengeance  he  took  and  the  sufferings  he  inflicted  on  them.  Note,  for  instance, 
his  treatment  of  Cardinal  Balue,  whom  he  caused  to  be  confined  in  a  cage 
“  eight  feet  broad,”  says  Commynes,  “  and  only  one  foot  higher  than  a  man’s 
stature,  covered  with  iron  plates  outside  and  inside,  and  fitted  with  terrible 
bars.”  In  it  the  unfortunate  prelate  passed  eleven  years,  and  it  was  not  until 
1480  that  he  was  let  out  at  the  solicitation  of  Pope  Sixtus  IV. 

He  was  still  more  pitiless  toward  Louis  of  Luxembourg,  count  of  St.  Pol, 
who  had  been  from  his  youth  up  engaged  in  the  wars  and  intrigues  of  the 
sovereigns  and  great  feudal  lords  of  Western  Europe,  France,  England, 
Germany,  Burgundy,  Brittany  and  Lorraine.  From  1433  to  1475  he  served 
and  betrayed  them  all  in  turn.  Given  up  at  last  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy  to 
the  king  he  was  beheaded  on  the  19th  of  December,  1475,  in  Paris,  on  the 
Place  de  Greve. 

It  seemed  as  if  Louis  XI.  ought  to  fear  nothing  now,  and  that  the  day 
for  clemency  had  come.  But  such  was  not  the  king’s  opinion ;  two  cruel 
passions,  suspicion  and  vengeance,  had  taken  possession  of  his  soul ;  he  had 
discovered  traces  and  almost  proofs  of  a  design  by  the  constable  and  his 
associates  for  seizing  the  king,  keeping  him  prisoner,  and  setting  his  son,  the 


7§ 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XI. 


[*477 


dauphin,  on  the  throne,  with  a  regency  composed  of  a  council  of  lords. 
Among  the  adherents  of  this  project  the  king  had  found  James  d’Armagnac, 
duke  of  Nemours,  the  companion  and  friend  of  his  youth,  for  his  father,  the 
count  of  Pardiac,  had  been  governor  to  Louis,  at  that  time  dauphin.  Arrested, 
sent  to  the  Bastile,  and  tried  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  the  Duke  de 
Nemours  was  beheaded  on  the  4th  of  August,  1477. 

Louis  XI.  rendered  to  France,  four  centuries  ago,  during  a  reign  of 
twenty-two  years,  three  great  services.  He  prosecuted  steadily  the  work  of 
Joan  of  Arc  and  Charles  VII.,  the.  expulsion  of  a  foreign  kingship  and  the 
triumph  of  national  independence  and  national  dignity.  By  means  of  the 
provinces  which  he  successively  won,  he  caused  France  to  make  a  great  stride 
toward  territorial  unity  within  her  natural  boundaries.  By  the  defeat  he 
inflicted  on  the  great  vassals,  the  favor  he  showed  the  middle  classes,  and  the 
use  he  had  the  sense  to  make  of  this  new  social  force,  he  contributed  power¬ 
fully  to  the  formation  of  the  French  nation  and  to  its  unity  under  a  national 
government.  Louis  XI.  proved  the  political  weakness  of  feudal  society, 
determined  its  fall,  and  labored  to  place  in  its  stead  France  and  monarchy. 
Herein  are  the  great  facts  of  his  reign  and  the  proofs  of  his  superior  mind. 

An  unexpected  event  occurred  at  this  time  to  give  a  little  more  heart  to 
Louis  XI.  Mary  of  Burgundy,  daughter  of  Charles  the  Rash,  died  at  Bruges 
on  the  27th  of  March,  1482,  leaving  to  her  husband,  Maximilian  of  Austria,  a 
daughter,  hardly  three  years  of  age,  Princess  Marguerite  by  name,  heiress  to 
the  Burgundian-Flemish  dominions  which  had  not  come  into  the  possession 
of  the  king  of  France.  Louis,  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  news,  conceived  the 
idea  and  the  hope  of  making  up  for  the  reverse  he  had  experienced.  He 
Avould  arrange  espousals  between  his  son  the  dauphin,  Charles,  thirteen  years 
old,  and  the  infant  princess  left  by  Mary,  and  thus  recover  for  the  crown  of 
France  the  beautiful  domains  he  had  allowed  to  slip  from  him.  A  negotia¬ 
tion  was  opened  at  once  on  the  subject  between  Louis,  Maximilian,  and  the 
estates  of  Flanders,  and,  on  the  23d  of  December,  1482,  it  resulted  in  a  treaty, 
concluded  at  Arras,  which  arranged  for  the  marriage.  In  January,  1483,  the 
ambassadors  from  the  estates  of  Flanders  and  from  Maximilian,  who  then,  for 
the  first  time,  assumed  the  title  of  archduke,  came  to  France  for  the  ratification 
of  the  treaty. 

On  the  2d  of  June  following,  the  infant  princess,  Marguerite  of  Austria, 
was  brought  by  a  solemn  embassy  to  Paris  first,  and  then,  on  the  23d  of  June, 
to  Amboise,  where  her  betrothal  to  the  dauphin,  Charles,  was  celebrated. 
Louis  XI.  did  not  feel  fit  for  removal  to  Amboise  .  and  he  would  not  even 
receive  at  Plessis-les-Tours  the  new  blemish  embassy.  Assuredly  neither  the 
king  nor  any  of  the  actors  in  this  regal  scene  foresaw  that  this  marriage,  which 
they  with  reason  looked  upon  as  a  triumph  of  French  policy,  would  never  be 
consummated  ,  that,  at  the  request  of  the  court  of  France,  the  pope  would 
annul  the  betrothal :  and  that,  nine  years  after  its  celebration,  in  1492,  the 
Austrian  princess,  after  having  been  brought  up  at  Amboise  under  the 
guardianship  of  the  duchess  of  Bourbon,  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Louis  XI., 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  VIII. 


79 


H83J 

would  be  sent  back  to  her  father,  Emperor  Maximilian,  by  her  affianced, 
Charles  VIII.,  then  king  of  France,  who  preferred  to  become  the  husband  of 
a  French  princess  with  a  French  province  for  a  dowry,  Anne,  duchess  of 
Brittany. 

It  was  in  March,  1481,  that  Louis  XI.  had  his  first  attack  of  that  apoplexy 
which,  after  several  repeated  strokes,  reduced  him  to  such  a  state  of  weakness 
that  in  June,  1483,  he  felt  himself  and  declared  himself  not  in  a  fit  state  to  be 
present  at  his  son’s  betrothal.  Two  months  afterward,  on  the  25th  of  August, 
St.  Louis’  day,  he  had  a  fresh  stroke,  and  lost  all  consciousness  and  speech. 

On  Saturday,  August  30th,  1483,  between  seven  and  eight  in  the  evening, 
he  expired,  saying,  “Our  Lady  of  Embrun,  my  good  mistress,  have  pity  upon 
me  ;  the  mercies  of  the  Lord  will  I  sing  forever  ( misericordias  Domini  in 
czternum  cantabo').” 

Louis  XI.  had  by  the  queen,  his  wife,  Charlotte  of  Savoy,  six  children  ; 
three  of  them  survived  him:  Charles  VIII.,  his  successor ;  Anne,  his  eldest 
daughter,  who  had  espoused  Peter  of  Bourbon,  sire  of  Beaujeu  ;  and  Joan, 
whom  he  had  married  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  who  became  Louis  XII.  At 
their  father’s  death  Charles  was  thirteen,  Anne  twenty-two  or  twenty-three, 
and  Joan  nineteen.  According  to  Charles  V.’s  decree,  which  had  fixed  four¬ 
teen  as  the  age  for  the  king’s  majority,  Charles  VIII.,  on  his  accession,  was 
very  nearly  a  major;  but  Louis  XI.,  with  good  reason,  considered  him  very 
far  from  capable  of  reigning  as  yet.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  a  very  high 
opinion  of  his  daughter  Anne,  and  it  was  to  her  far  more  than  to  Sire  de 
Beaujeu,  her  husband,  that  six  days  before  his  death  and  by  his  last  instruc¬ 
tions  he  entrusted  the  guardianship  of  his  son,  to  whom  he  already  gave  the 
title  of  king ,  and  the  government  of  the  realm.  Louis  XI.  had  not  been  mis¬ 
taken  in  his  choice ;  there  was  none  more  fitted  than  his  daughter  Anne  to 
continue  his  policy  under  the  reign  and  in  the  name  of  his  successor. 

She  began  by  acts  of  intelligent  discretion.  She  tried,  not  to  subdue  by 
force  the  rivals  and  malcontents,  but  to  put  them  in  the  wrong  in  the  eyes  of 
the  public  and  to  cause  embarrassment  to  themselves  by  treating  them  with 
fearless  favor.  Her  brother-in-law,  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  was  vexed  at  being 
only  in  appearance  and  name  the  head  of  his  own  house ;  and  she  made  him 
constable  of  France  and  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom.  Two  of  Louis 
XT’s  subordinate  and  detested  servants,  Oliver  le  Daim  and  John  Doyac, 
were  prosecuted,  and  one  was  hanged  and  the  other  banished ;  and  his  doc¬ 
tor,  James  Coettier,  was  condemned  to  disgorge  fifty  thousand  crowns  out  of 
the  enormous  presents  he  had  received  from  his  patient.  At  the  same  time 
that  she  thus  gave  some  satisfaction  to  the  cravings  of  popular  wrath,  Anne 
de  Beaujeu  threw  open  the  prisons,  recalled  exiles,  forgave  the  people  a 
quarter  of  the  talliage,  cut  down  expenses  by  dismissing  six  thousand  Swiss 
whom  the  late  king  had  taken  into  his  pay,  re-established  some  sort  of  order 
in  the  administration  of  the  domains  of  the  crown,  and,  in  fine,  whether  in 
general  measures  or  in  respect  of  persons,  displayed  impartiality  without  pay¬ 
ing  court  and  firmness  without  using  severity. 


So 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  VIII. 


[1484 


The  States-general  were  convoked  at  Tours  for  the  5th  of  January,  1484. 
The  deputies  had  all  at  heart  one  and  the  same  idea;  they  desired  to  turn  the 
old  and  undisputed  monarchy  into  a  legalized  and  free  government. 

Two  men,  one  a  Norman  and  the  other  a  Burgundian,  the  canon  John 
Masselin  and  Philip  Pot,  lord  of  la  Roche,  a  former  counselor  of  Philip  the 
Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  were  the  exponents  of  this  political  spirit,  at  once 
bold  and  prudent,  conservative  and  reformative. 

When  the  States-general  had  separated,  Anne  de  Beaujeu,  without  diffi¬ 
culty  or  uproar,  resumed,  as  she  had  assumed  on  her  father’s  death,  the 
government  of  France;  and  she  kept  it  yet  for  seven  years,  from  1484  to 
1491.  During  all  this  time  she  had  a  rival  and  foe  in  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans, 
who  was  one  day  to  be  Louis  XII.  This  ambitious  prince  induced  Fran¬ 
cois  II.,  duke  of  Brittany,  Richard  III.,  king  of  England,  Maximilian  of 
Austria,  and  others,  to  take  up  arms  against  the  regent.  She  vanquished 
Francois  at  Nantes,  and  sent  to  the  gallows  Landais,  minister  of  that  prince, 
and  the  original  instigator  of  the  league.  I11  order  to  divert  the  attention  of 
Richard  III.,  she  gave  her  support  to  Henry  Tudor,  who  ultimately  gained 
the  battle  of  Bosworth  (1485)  and  ascended  to  the  throne  of  England,  under 
the  title  of  Henry  VII.  To  Maximilian  she  opposed  with  success  the 
marshals  d’Esquerdes  and  De  Gie.  The  counts  of  Albret  and  of  Comminges 
had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  duke  of  Orleans :  they  were  defeated  on  their 
own  domains  in  the  south  of  France.  In  July,  1488,  Louis  de  la  Tremoille 
came  suddenly  down  upon  Brittany,  took  one  after  the  other  Chateaubriant, 
Ancenis,  and  Fougeres,  and  on  the  28th  gained  at  St.  Aubin-du-Cormier,  near 
Rennes,  over  the  army  of  the  duke  of  Brittany  and  his  English,  German  and 
Gascon  allies,  a  victory  which  decided  the  campaign. 

It  was  a  great  success  for  Anne  de  Beaujeu.  She  had  beaten  her  united 
foes.  Two  incidents  that  supervened,  one  a  little  before  and  the  other  a  little 
after  the  battle  of  St.  Aubin-du-Cormier,  occurred  to  both  embarrass  the  posi¬ 
tion,  and  at  the  same  time  call  forth  all  the  energy  of  Anne.  Her  brother-in- 
law,  Duke  John  of  Bourbon,  the  head  of  his  house,  died  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1488,  leaving  to  his  younger  brother,  Peter,  his  title  and  domains.  Charles 
VIII.,  moreover,  having  nearly  arrived  at  man’s  estate,  made  more  frequent 
manifestations  of  his  own  personal  will  ;  and  Anne,  clear-sighted  and  discreet, 
though  ambitious,  was  little  by  little  changing  her  dominion  into  influence. 
But  some  weeks  after  the  battle  of  St.  Aubin-du-Cormier,  on  the  7th  or  9th  of 
September,  1488,  the  death  of  Francis  II.,  duke  of  Brittany,  rendered  the 
active  intervention  of  the  duchess  of  Bourbon  natural  and  necessary,  for  he 
left  his  daughter,  the  Princess  Anne,  barely  eighteen  years  old,  exposed  to  all 
the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the  government  of  her  inheritance  and  to  all  the 
intrigues  of  the  claimants  to  her  hand.  Madame  de  Beaujeu  immedi¬ 
ately  sent  into  Brittany  a  powerful  army,  and  compelled  the  young 
heiress  to  bestow  herself  upon  the  suzerain,  Charles  VIII.  On  the  7th  of 
February,  1492,  Anne  was  crowned  at  St.  Denis;  and  next  day,  the  8th 
of  February,  she  made  her  entry  in  state  into  Paris  amid  the  joyful  and 


Charles  VIII. 


receives  his  bride, 
A.  de  Neuville. 


Princess  Anaa  of  Brittany. 
Page  80. 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  VIII. 


81 


H95J 

earnest  acclamations  of  the  public.  A  sensible  and  a  legitimate  joy ;  for 
the  reunion  of  Brittany  to  France  was  the  consolidation  of  the  peace  which, 
in  this  same  century,  on  the  17th  of  September,  1453,  had  put  an  end  to  the 
Hundred  Years’  War. 

Charles  VIII.  was  pleased  with  and  proud  of  himself.  He  had  achieved 
a  brilliant  and  a  difficult  marriage.  In  Europe  and  within  his  own  household 
he  had  made  a  display  of  power  and  independence.  In  order  to  espouse 
Anne  of  Brittany  he  had  sent  back  Marguerite  of  Austria  to  her  father.  He 
had  gone  in  person  and  withdrawn  from  prison  his  cousin  Louis  of  Orleans, 
whom  his  sister  Anne  de  Beaujeu  had  put  there  ;  and  so  far  from  having  got 
embroiled  with  her  he  saw  all  the  royal  family  reconciled  around  him.  This 
was  no  little  success  for  a  young  prince  of  twenty-one.  He  thereupon 
devoted  himself  with  ardor  and  confidence  to  his  desire  of  winning  back  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  which  Alphonso  I.,  king  of  Aragon,  had  wrested  from 
the  house  of  France,  and  of  thereby  re-opening  for  himself  in  the  East  and 
against  Islamy  that  career  of  Christian  glory  which  had  made  a  saint  of  his 
ancestor  Louis  IX.  By  two  treaties  concluded  in  1493  [one  at  Barcelona  on 
the  19th  of  January  and  the  other  at  Senlis  on  the  23d  of  May],  he  gave  up 
Roussillon  and  Cerdagne  to  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  king  of  Arragon,  and 
Fp  che-Comte,  Artois  and  Charolais  to  the  house  of  Austria,  and,  after 
having  at  such  a  lamentable  price  purchased  freedom  of  movement,  he  went 
and  took  up  his  quarters  at  Lyons  to  prepare  for  his  Neapolitan  venture. 

It  were  out  of  place  to  follow  out  here  in  all  its  details  a  war  which 
belongs  to  the  history  of  Italy  far  more  than  to  that  of  France. 

Six  principal  States,  Piedmont,  the  kingdom  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy,  the 
duchy  of  Milan,  the  republic  of  Venice,  the  republic  of  Florence,  Rome 
and  the  pope,  and  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  co-existed  in  Italy  at  the  end  ol 
the  fifteenth  century.  In  August,  1494,  when  Charles  VIII.  started  from 
Lyons  on  his  Italian  expedition,  Piedmont  was  governed  by  Blanche  of  Mont- 
ferrat,  in  the  name  of  her  son  Charles  John  Amadeo,  a  child  only  six  years 
old.  In  the  duchy  of  Milan  the  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Ludovic  Sforza. 
The  republic  of  Venice  had  at  this  period  for  its  doge  Augustin  Barbarigo  ; 
and  it  was  to  the  Council  of  Ten  that  in  respect  of  foreign  affairs  as  well  as  of 
the  home  department  the  power  really  belonged.  Peter  de’  Medici,  son  of 
Lorenzo  de’  Medici,  the  father  of  the  Muses ,  governed  the  republic  of 
Florence.  Rome  had  for  pope  Alexander  VI.  (Roderigo  Borgia),  a  prince 
who  would  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  utterly  demoralized  men  of  the 
fifteenth  century  only  that  he  had  for  son  a  Caesar  Borgia.  Finally,  at 
Naples,  in  1494,  three  months  before  the  day  on  which  Charles  VIII.  entered 
Italy,  King  Alphonso  II.  ascended  the  throne.  Such,  in  Italy,  whether  in 
her  kingdoms  or  her  republics,  were  the  heads  with  whom  Charles  VIII.  had 
to  deal  when  he  went,  in  the  name  of  a  disputed  right,  three  hundred  leagues 
away  from  his  own  kingdom  in  quest  of  a  bootless  and  ephemeral  conquest. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1495,  Charles  VIII.  entered  Rome  with  his  army; 
the  pope  having  retired  at  first  to  the  Vatican  and  afterward  to  the  castle  of* 
6 


82 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  VIII. 


[ 1 495 


St.  Angelo.  At  last,  on  the  15th  of  January,  a  treaty  was  concluded  which 
regulated  pacific  relations  between  the  two  sovereigns,  and  secured  to  the 
French  army  a  free  passage  through  the  States  of  the  Church,  both  going  to 
Naples  and  also  returning,  and  provisional  possession  of  the  town  of  Civita 
Vecchia,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  restored  to  the  pope  when  the  king 
returned  to  France;  and,  on  the  28th  of  January,  Charles  VIII.  took  solemn 
leave  of  the  pope,  received  his  blessing,  and  left  Rome  at  the  head  of  his 
army. 

There  was  the  semblance  of  a  fight  at  San-Germano,  but  the  king  of 
Naples,  betrayed  both  by  his  army  and  by  his  subjects,  was  obliged  to  seek 
safety  rn  the  island  of  Ischia,  from  whence  he  reached  Sicily.  Charles  VIII. 
entered  Naples  on  the  22d  of  February  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 

At  the  news  hereof  the  disquietude  and  vexation  of  the  principal  Italian 
powers  were  displayed  at  Venice  as  well  as  at  Milan  and  at  Rome.  On  the 
31st  of  March,  1495,  a  league  was  concluded  between  Pope  Alexander  VI., 
Emperor  Maximilian  I.,  as  king  of  the  Romans,  the  king  of  Spain,  the 
Venetians,  and  the  duke  of  Milan  :  “  To  three  ends,”  says  Commynes:  “  for 
to  defend  Christendom  against  the  Turks,  for  the  defense  of  Italy,  and  for 
the  preservation  of  their  estates.”  Charles  VIII.  remained  nearly  two  months 
at  Naples  after  the  Italian  league  had  been  concluded,  and  while  it  was 
making  its  preparations  against  him  was  solely  concerned  about  enjoyment,  in 
his  beautiful  but  precarious  kingdom.  On  the  12th  of  May,  1495,  all  the 
population  of  Naples  and  of  the  neighboring  country  was  a-foot  early  to  see 
their  new  king  make  his  entry  in  state  as  king  of  Naples ,  Sicily  and  Jerusalem r 
with  his  Neapolitan  court  and  his  French  troops;  and  only  a  week  afterward, 
on  the  20th  of  May.  1495,  Charles  VIII.  started  from  Naples  to  return  to 
France  with  an  army  at  the  most  from  twelve  to  fifteen  thousand  strong, 
leaving  for  guardian  of  his  new  kingdom  his  cousin  Gilbert  of  Bourbon,  Count 
de  Montpensier,  with  eight  or  ten  thousand  men,  scattered  for  the  most  part 
throughout  the  provinces. 

He  took  more  than  six  weeks  to  traverse  it,  passing  three  days  at  Rome, 
four  at  Siena,  the  same  number  at  Pisa,  and  three  at  Lucca,  though  he  had 
declared  that  he  would  not  halt  anywhere.  It  was  in  the  duchy  of  Parma, 
near  the  town  of  Fornovo,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Taro,  an  affluent  of  the 
Po,  that  the  French  and  Italian  armies  met,  on  the  5th  of  July,  1495.  The 
French  army  was  nine  or  ten  thousand  strong,  with  five  or  six  thousand  camp- 
followers,  servants  or  drivers;  the  Italian  army  numbered  at  least  thirty 
thousand  men,  well  supplied  and  well  rested,  whereas  the  French  were 
fatigued  with  their  long  march  and  very  badly  off  for  supplies.  The  battle 
was  very  hotly  contested,  but  did  not  last  long,  with  alternations  of  success 
and  reverse  on  both  sides. 

Both  armies  might  and  did  claim  the  victory,  for  they  had,  each  of  them, 
partly  succeeded  in  their  design.  The  Italian  allies  were  triumphant,  but 
without  any  ground  of  security  or  any  luster ;  the  expedition  of  Charles 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XII. 


1499] 


VIII.  was  plainly  only  the  beginning  of  the  foreigner’s  ambitious  projects, 
invasions  and  wars  against  their  own  beautiful  land. 

Charles  VIII.  reigned  for  nearly  three  years  longer  after  his  return  to  his 
kingdom,  and  for  the  first  two  of  them  he  passed  time  in  indolently  dreaming 
of  his  plans  for  a  fresh  invasion  of  Italy  and  in  frivolous  abandonment  to  his 
pleasures  and  the  entertainments  at  his  court,  which  he  moved  about  from 
Lyons  to  Moulins,  to  Paris,  to  Tours  and  to  Amboise.  The  news  which  came 
to  him  from  Italy  was  worse  and  worse  every  day.  While  still  constantly 
talking  of  the  war  he  had  in  view,  Charles  attended  more  often  and 
more  earnestly  than  he  hitherto  had  done  to  the  internal  affairs  of 
his  kingdom.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1498,  Charles  VIII.  was 
at  Amboise,  where  considerable  works  had  been  begun  under  his  direction 
by  several  excellent  artists  whom  he  had  brought  from  Naples.  When 
passing  one  day  through  a  dark  gallery,  he  knocked  his  forehead  against 
a  door  with  such  violence  that  he  died  a  few  hours  afterward  (April  7th, 
1498).  He  was  only  twenty-eight  years  old.  With  him  the  direct  family 
of  Valois  became  extinct,  and  was  replaced  by  that  of  the  Valois-Oi  leans. 

On  ascending  the  throne  Louis  XII.  reduced  the  public  taxes  and 
confirmed  in  their  posts  his  predecessor’s  chief  advisers,  using  to  Louis  de  la 
Tremoille,  who  had  been  one  of  his  most  energetic  foes,  that  celebrated 
expression,  “  The  king  of  France  avenges  not  the  wrongs  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans.”  At  the  same  time  on  the  day  of  his  coronation  at  Reims  [May 
27th,  1492],  he  assumed,  besides  his  title  of  king  of  France,  the  titles  of  king 
of  Naples  and  of  Jerusalem  and  dnke  of  Milan.  By  his  policy  at  home, 
Louis  XII.  deserved  and  obtained  the  name  of  Father  of  the  People ;  by  his 
enterprises  and  wars  abroad  he  involved  France  still  more  deeply  than 
Charles  VIII.  had  in  that  mad  course  of  distant,  reckless,  and  incoherent 
conquests,  for  which  his  successor,  Francis  I.,  was  destined  to  pay  by  capture 
at  Pavia  and  by  the  lamentable  treaty  of  Madrid,  in  1526,  as  the  price  of 
his  release. 

Outside  of  France  Milaness  [the  Milanese  district]  was  Louis  XII.’s  first 
thought,  at  his  accession,  and  the  first  object  of  his  desire.  When  Charles 
VIII.  invaded  Italy  in  1494,  “Now  is  the  time,”  said  Louis,  “to  enforce  the 
rights  of  Valentine  Visconti,  my  grandmother,  to  Milaness.”  And  he,  in 
fact,  asserted  them  openly,  and  proclaimed  his  intention  of  vindicating  them 
so  soon  as  he  found  the  moment  propitious.  Accordingly,  in  the  month  of 
August,  1499,  the  French  army,  with  a  strength  of  from  twenty  to  five  and 
twenty  thousand  men,  of  whom  five  thousand  were  Swiss,  invaded  Milaness. 
On  the  6th  of  October,  1499,  Louis  made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Milan 
amid  cries  of  “  Hurrah  for  France  !  ”  After  instituting  a  number  of 
reforms  he  recrossed  the  Alps  at  the  end  of  some  weeks,  leaving  as  governor 
of  Milaness  John  James  Trivulzio,  the  valiant  Condottiere,  who,  four  years 
before,  had  quitted  the  service  of  Ferdinand  II.,  king  of  Naples,  for  that  of 
Charles  VIII.  Unfortunately  Trivulzio  was  himself  a  Milanese,  and  of  the 
faction  of  the  Guelphs.  A  plot  was  formed  in  favor  of  the  fallen  tyrant,  who 


84 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XII. 


[1500 


was  in  Germany  expecting  it,  and  was  recruiting,  during  expectancy,  among 
the  Germans  and  Swiss  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  it.  On  the  25th  of 
January,  1500,  the  insurrection  broke  out;  and  two  months  later  Ludovic 
Sforza  had  once  more  become  master  of  Milaness,  where  the  French 
possessed  nothing  but  the  castle  of  Milan. 

Louis  XII.,  so  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  Milanese  insurrection,  sent  into 
Italy  Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  the  best  of  his  captains,  and  the  cardinal 
d’Amboise,  his  privy  councillor  and  his  friend  ;  the  former  to  command  the 
royal  troops,  French  and  Swiss,  and  the  latter  “  for  to  treat  about  the 
reconciliation  of  the  rebel  towns,  and  to  deal  with  everything  as  if  it  were  the 
king  in  his  own  person.”  The  campaign  did  not  last  long.  The  Swiss  who 
had  been  recruited  by  Ludovic  and  those  who  were  in  Louis  XII. ’s  service  had 
no  mind  to  fight  one  another,  and  the  former  capitulated,  and  surrendered  the 
■strong  place  of  Novara.  Betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  Ludovic  was 
sent  to  France,  where  he  expired  fourteen  years  after,  a  prisoner  in  the  castle 
of  Loches.  The  duchy  of  Milan  then  submitted  to  Louis  XII.,  and  this 
prince  made  immediate  preparations  for  attacking  Naples.  With  this  view  he 
signed  with  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  the  secret  treaty  of  Granada  (November 
nth,  1500). 

On  hearing  of  the  approach  of4  the  French,  the  new  king,  Frederic, 
requested  the  Spaniards  to  defend  him,  and  gave  over  to  them  his  fortresses  : 
this  was  surrendering  to  the  enemy.  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  chieftains  of  the  day,  attempted  to  defend  Barletta.  The  French 
suffered,  in  consequence,  two  defeats  (Seminara,  Cerignola),  and  lost  nearly  all 
their  possessions  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  (1503). 

Louis  XII.  hastened  to  levy  and  send  to  Italy,  under  the  command  of 
Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  a  fresh  army,  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  Gaeta  and 
recovering  Naples;  but  at  Parma  La  Tremoille  fell  ill,  and  the  command 
devolved  upon  the  marquis  of  Mantua,  who  marched  on  Gaeta.  He  found 
Gonzalvo  of  Cordova  posted  with  his  army  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Garigliano, 
either  to  invest  the  place  or  to  repulse  re-enforcements  that  might  arrive 
for  it.  The  two  armies  passed  fifty  days  face  to  face  almost,  with  the  river 
and  its  marshes  between  them,  and  vainly  attempting  over  and  over  again  to 
join  battle.  At  length  the  French  were  defeated,  and  Gaeta  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards  on  the  1st  of  January,  1504. 

At  the  news  of  these  reverses  the  grief  and  irritation  of  Louis  XII.  were 
extreme.  Not  only  was  he  losing  his  Neapolitan  conquest,  but  even  his 
Milanese  was  also  threatened.  The  ill-will  of  the  Venetians  became  manifest. 
Pope  Alexander  VI.,  who,  willy  nilly,  had  rendered  Louis  XII.  so  many 
services,  died  at  Rome  on  the  12th  of  August,  1503.  A  four-weeks’  pope, 
Pius  III.,  succeeded  him  ;  and  when  the  Holy  See  suddenly  became  once 
more  vacant,  the  new  choice  was  Cardinal  Julian  della  Rovera,  Pope  Julius 
II.,  who  soon  became  the  most  determined  and  most  dangerous  foe  of  Louis 
XII.,  already  assailed  by  so  many  enemies. 

In  order  to  put  off  the  struggle  which  had  succeeded  so  ill  for  him  in  the 


1509] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XII. 


85 


kingdom  of  Naples,  Louis  concluded,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1504,  a  truce  for 
three  years  with  the  king  of  Spain ;  and  on  the  22d  of  September,  in  the 
same  year,  in  order  to  satisfy  his  grudge  on  account  of  the  Venetians’ 
demeanor  toward  him,  he  made  an  alliance  against  them  with  Emperor 
Maximilian  I.  and  Pope  Julius  II.,  with  the  design,  all  three  of  them,  of 
wresting  certain  provinces  from  them.  Louis  repented  of  having  in  1501, 
under  the  influence  of  his  wife,  Anne  of  Brittany,  affianced  his  daughter 
Claude  to  Prince  Charles  of  Austria,  and  of  the  enormous  concessions  he  had 
made  by  two  treaties,  one  of  April  5th,  1503,  and  the  other  of  September  22d, 
1504,  for  the  sake  of  this  marriage.  The  latter  of  these  treaties  contained 
even  the  following  strange  clause:  “If,  by  default  of  the  Most  Christian 
king  or  of  the  queen  his  wife,  or  of  the  Princess  Claude,  the  aforesaid 
marriage  should  not  take  place,  the  Most  Christian  king  doth  will  and  con¬ 
sent,  from  now,  that  the  said  duchies  of  Burgundy  and  Milan  and  the  count- 
ship  of  Asti,  do  remain  settled  upon  the  said  Prince  Charles,  duke  of  Luxem¬ 
bourg,  with  all  the  rights  therein  possessed  or  possibly  to  be  possessed  by  the 
Most  Christian  king.” 

The  States-general  were  convoked  and  met  at  Tours  (1506)  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  deliberating  upon  so  important  a  step :  the  nation  protested,  through 
the  voice  of  George  d’Amboise,  against  the  political  arrangements  made  by 
Anne  of  Brittany,  and  the  king  seized  the  earliest  opportunity  of  annulling 
by  force  what  he  would  never  have  consented  to,  had  the  suggestion  been 
offered  to  him  while  he  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  usual  health. 

From  1506  to  1515,  between  Louis  XII.’ s  will  and  his  death,  we  find  in 
the  history  of  his  career  in  Italy  five  coalitions  and  as  many  great  battles  of  a 
profoundly  contradictory  character.  In  1508,  Pope  Julius  II.,  Louis  XII., 
Emperor  Maximilian  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  king  of  Spain,  form 
together  against  the  Venetians  the  League  of  Cambrai .  In  1510  Julius  II., 
Ferdinand,  the  Venetians,  and  the  Swiss  make  a  coalition  against  Louis  XII. 
In  1512,  this  coalition,  decomposed  for  awhile,  reunites  under  the  name  of 
the  League  of  the  Holy  Union,  between  the  pope,  the  Venetians,  the  Swiss, 
and  the  kings  of  Aragon  and  Naples  against  Louis  II.,  minus  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  and  plus  Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England.  On  the  14th  of  May, 

1509,  Louis  XII.,  in  the  name  of  the  League  of  Cambrai ,  gains  the  battle  of 
Agnadello  against  the  Venetians.  On  the  nth  of  April,  1 5 12,  it  is  against 
Pope  Julius  II.,  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and  the  Venetians  that  he  gains  the 
battle  of  Ravenna.  On  the  14th  of  March,  15 13,  he  is  in  alliance  with  the 
Venetians,  and  it  is  against  the  Swiss  that  he  loses  the  battle  of  Novara.  In 

1510,  15 1 1  and  1512,  in  the  course  of  all  these  incessant  changes  of  political 
allies  and  adversaries,  three  councils  met  at  Tours,  at  Pisa,  and  at  St.  John 
Lateran,  with  views  still  more  discordant  and  irreconcilable  than  those  of  all 
these  laic  coalitions. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1509,  the  French  and  the  Venetians  encountered  near 
the  village  of  Agnadello,  in  the  province  of  Lodi,  on  the  banks  of  the  Adda. 
Louis  XII.  commanded  his  army  in  person:  the  Venetians  were  under  the 


86 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XII. 


[1509 

orders  of  two  generals,  the  count  of  Petigliano  and  Barthelemy  cPAlviano,  both 
members  of  the  Roman  family  of  the  Orsini,  but  not  on  good  terms  with  one 
another.  The  great  blow  fell  upon  the  Venetians’  infantry,  which  lost,  accord¬ 
ing  to  some,  eight  thousand  men.  The  territorial  results  of  the  victory  were 
greater  than  the  numerical  losses  of  the  armies.  Within  a  fortnight  the  towns 
of  Caravaggio,  Bergamo,  Brescia,  Crema,  Cremona  and  Pizzighitone  surren¬ 
dered  to  the  French.  Peschiera  alone,  a  strong  fortress  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  Lake  of  Garda,  resisted  and  was  carried  by  assault. 

Louis  XII.  committed  the  mistake  of  embroiling  himself  with  the  Swiss 
by  refusing  to  add  20,000  livres  to  the  pay  of  60,000  he  was  giving  them 
already,  and  by  styling  them  “wretched  mountain-shepherds,  who  presumed 
to  impose  upon  him  a  tax  he  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to.”  In  October, 

1 5 1 1,  a  league  was  formally  concluded  between  the  pope,  the  Venetians,  the 
Swiss  and  King  Ferdinand  against  Louis  XII.  The  coalition  thus  formed 
was  called  the  League  of  Holy  Union.  “I,”  said  Louis  XII.,  “am  the  Sara¬ 
cen  against  whom  this  league  is  directed.” 

He  had  just  lost,  a  few  months  previously,  the  intimate  and  faithful 
adviser  and  friend  of  his  whole  life  ;  Cardinal  George  d’Amboise,  seized  at 
Milan  with  a  fit  of  the  gout,  during  which  Louis  tended  him  with  the  assidu¬ 
ity  and  care  of  an  affectionate  brother,  died  at  Lyons  on  the  25th  of  May, 
1510,  at  fifty  years  of  age.  He  was  one,  not  of  the  greatest,  but  of  the  most 
honest  ministers  who  ever  enjoyed  a  powerful  monarch’s  constant  favor,  and 
employed  it,  we  will  not  say  with  complete  disinterestedness,  but  with  a 
predominant  anxiety  for  the  public  weal. 

“At  last,  then,  I  am  the  only  pope  !  ”  cried  Julius  II.,  when  he  heard 
that  Cardinal  d’Amboise  was  dead.  But  his  joy  was  misplaced.  War  was 
rekindled,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  resumed  its  course  after  the  cardinal’s 
death.  Julius  II.  plunged  into  it  in  person,  moving  to  every  point  where  it 
was  going  on,  living  in  the  midst  of  camps,  himself  in  military  costume, 
besieging  towns,  having  his  guns  pointed  and  assaults  delivered  under  his  own 
eyes.  It  was  said  that  he  had  cast  into  the  Tiber  the  keys  of  St.  Peter  to 
gird  on  the  sword  of  St.  Paul.  His  answer  to  everything  was,  “The  barbari¬ 
ans  must  be  driven  from  Italy.”  Louis  XII.  became  more  and  more  irritated 
and  undecided. 

From  1510  to  1512  the  war  in  Italy  was  thus  proceeding,  but  with  no 
great  results,  when  Gaston  de  Foix,  duke  of  Nemours,  came  to  take  the 
command  of  the  French  army.  He  was  scarcely  twenty-three,  and  had  hith¬ 
erto  only  served  under  Trivulzio  and  La  Palisse ;  but  he  had  already  a  char¬ 
acter  for  bravery  and  intelligence  in  war.  Louis  XII.  loved  this  son  of  his 
sister  Mary  of  Orleans,  and  gladly  elevated  him  to  the  highest  rank.  Gaston, 
from  the  very  first,  justified  this  favor.  Instead  of  seeking  for  glory  in  the 
field  only,  he  began  by  shutting  himself  up  in  Milan,  which  the  Swiss  were 
besieging.  They  raised  the  siege  and  returned  to  their  own  country.  The 
pope  was  besieging  Bologna;  Gaston  arrived  there  suddenly  with  a  body  of 
troops  whom  he  had  marched  out  at  night  through  a  tempest  of  wind  and 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XII. 


1513] 


snow,  and  he  was  safe  inside  the  place  while  the  besiegers  were  still  ignorant 
of  his  movement.  The  siege  of  Bologna  was  raised.  Gaston  left  it  immedi. 
ately  to  march  on  Brescia,  which  the  Venetians  had  taken  possession  of  for 
the  Holy  League .  He  retook  the  town  by  a  vigorous  assault,  gave  it  up  to 
pillage,  punished  with  death  Count  Louis  Avogaro  and  his  two  sons,  and  gave 
a  beating  to  the  Venetian  army  before  its  walls.  All  these  successes  had  been 
gained  in  a  fortnight. 

Finally  a  decisive  battle  was  fought  at  Ravenna  (April  nth),  which  cost 
the  life  of  the  heroic  French  commander.  When  the  fatal  news  was  known 
the  consternation  and  grief  were  profound.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three 
Gaston  de  Foix  had,  in  less  than  six  months,  won  the  confidence  and  affection 
of  the  army,  of  the  king,  and  of  France.  It  was  one  of  those  sudden  and 
undisputed  reputations  which  seem  to  mark  out  men  for  the  highest  destinies. 
After  this  Julius  II.  won  back  all  he  had  won  and  lost.  Maximilian  Sforza,  son 
of  Ludovicthe  Moor,  after  twelve  years  of  exile  in  Germany,  returned  to  Milan 
to  resume  possession  of  his  father’s  duchy.  By  the  end  of  June,  1512,  less 
than  three  months  after  the  victory  of  Ravenna,  the  domination  of  the  French 
had  disappeared  from  Italy. 

In  1512  Ferdinand  invaded  Navarre,  took  possession  of  the  Spanish 
portion  of  that  little  kingdom,  and  thence  threatened  Gascony.  Henry  VIII., 
king  of  England,  sent  him  a  fleet  which  did  not  withdraw  until  after  it  had 
appeared  before  Bayonne  and  thrown  the  south-west  of  France  into  a  state  of 
alarm.  In  the  north  Henry  VIII.  continued  his  preparations  for  an  expedi¬ 
tion  into  France,  obtained  from  his  parliament  subsidies  for  that  purpose,  and 
concerted  plans  with  Emperor  Maximilian,  who  renounced  his  doubtful 
neutrality,  and  engaged  himself  at  last  in  the  Holy  League .  Louis  XII.  had 
in  Germany  an  enemy  as  zealous  almost  as  Julius  II.  was  in  Italy:  Maxi¬ 
milian’s  daughter,  Princess  Marguerite  of  Austria,  had  never  forgiven  France 
or  its  king,  whether  he  were  called  Charles  VIII.  or  Louis  XII.,  the  treatment 
she  had  received  from  that  court  when,  after  having  been  kept  there  and 
brought  up  for  eight  years  to  become  queen  of  France,  she  had  been  sent 
away,  and  handed  back  to  her  father,  to  make  way  for  Anne  of  Brittany. 
The  Swiss,  on  their  side,  became  more  and  more  pronounced  against  him,  and 
haughtily  styled  themselves  “  vanquishers  of  kings  and  defenders  of  the  holy 
Roman  Church.”  And  the  Roman  Church  made  a  good  defender  of  herself. 
Everywhere  things  were  turning  out  according  to  the  wishes  and  for  the 
profit  of  the  pope  ;  and  France  and  her  king  were  reduced  to  defending  them¬ 
selves  on  their  own  soil  against  a  coalition  of  all  their  great  neighbors. 

On  the  2 1st  of  February,  1513,  ten  months  since  Gaston  de  Foix,  the 
victor  of  Ravenna,  had  perished  in  the  hour  of  his  victory,  Pope  Julius  II. 
died  at  Rome  at  the  very  moment  when  he  seemed  invited  to  enjoy  all  the 
triumph  of  his  policy.  He  died  without  bluster  and  without  disquietude, 
disavowing  naught  of  his  past  life  and  relinquishing  none  of  his  designs  as  to 
the  future.  The  death  of  Julius  II.  seemed  to  Louis  XII.  a  favorable  oppor 
tunity  for  once  more  setting  foot  in  Italy,  and  recovering  at  least  that  which 


88 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XII. 


[1413 

he  regarded  as  his  hereditary  right,  the  duchy  of  Milan.  He  commissioned 
Louis  de  la  Tremoille  to  go  and  renew  the  conquest.  He  had  little  difficulty 
in  coming  to  an  understanding  with  the  Venetian  senate ;  and,  on  the  14th  of 
May,  15 13,  a  treaty  of  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  was  signed  at  Blois 
between  the  king  of  France  and  the  republic  of  Venice.  Louis  hoped  also  to 
find  at  Rome  in  the  new  pope,  Leo  X.  [Cardinal  John  de’  Medici,  elected 
pope  March  nth,  1513],  favorable  inclinations;  but  they  were  at  first  very 
ambiguously  and  reservedly  manifested.  Louis  had  not  and  could  not  have 
any  confidence  in  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  ;  but  he  knew  him  to  be  as  prudent 
as  he  was  rascally,  and  he  concluded  with  him  at  Orthez,  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1513,  a  year’s  truce,  which  Ferdinand  took  great  care  not  to  make  known  to 
his  allies,  Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England,  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian. 
Conquerors  at  Novara,  the  Swiss  drove  the  French  from  the  duchy  of  Milan, 
which  La  Tremoille  had  reconquered  ;  in  Burgundy  they  besieged  Dijon  ;  in 
the  north  the  combined  troops  of  Maximilian  and  Henry  VIII.  of  England 
gained  the  battle  of  Guinegate.  The  truce  of  Orleans,  followed  by  the  treaty 
of  London,  put  a  stop  to  these  disasters,  and  the  Italian  question  remained 
still  undecided. 

When  we  consider  this  reign  from  this  new  point  of  view  we  are  at 
once  struck  by  two  facts:  1st,  the  great  number  of  legislative  and 
administrative  acts  that  we  meet  with,  bearing  upon  the  general  interests  of 
the  country,  interests  political,  judicial,  financial,  and  commercial ;  the  Recueil 
des  Ordonnances  des  Rois  dc  France  contains  forty-three  important  acts  of  this 
sort  owing  their  origin  to  Louis  XII. ;  it  was  clearly  a  government  full  of 
watchfulness,  activity,  and  attention  to  good  order  and  the  public  weal  ;  2d, 
the  profound  remembrance  remaining  in  succeeding  ages  of  this  reign  and  its 
deserts. 

Foreigners  were  not  less  impressed  than  the  French  themselves  with  the 
advance  in  order,  activity,  and  prosperity  which  had  taken  place  among  the 
French  community.  Macchiavelli  admits  it,  and,  with  the  melancholy  of  an 
Italian  politician  acting  in  the  midst  of  rivalries  among  the  Italian  republics, 
he  attributes  it  above  all  to  French  unity,  superior  to  that  of  any  other  State 
in  Europe. 

Louis  XII. ’s  private  life  also  contributed  to  win  for  him,  we  will  not  say 
the  respect  and  admiration,  but  the  good-will  of  the  public.  Louis  XII.  was 
thrice  married.  His  first  wife,  Joan,  daughter  of  Louis  XI.,  was  an  excellent 
and  worthy  princess,  but  ugly,  ungraceful,  and  hump-backed.  He  had  been 
almost  forced  to  marry  her,  and  he  had  no  child  by  her.  Louis  married  in 
1499  his  predecessor’s  widow,  Anne,  duchess  of  Brittany,  twenty-three  years 
of  age,  short,  pretty,  a  little  lame,  witty,  able,  and  firm.  It  was,  on  both 
sides,  a  marriage  of  policy.  After  a  union  of  fifteen  years,  Anne  of  Brittany 
died  on  the  9th  of  January,  1514,  at  the  castle  of  Blois,  nearly  thirty-seven 
years  old.  Louis  was  then  fifty-two.  He  seemed  very  much  to  regret  his 
wife  :  but,  some  few  months  after  her  death,  another  marriage  of  policy  was 
put,  on  his  behalf,  in  course  of  negotiation.  It  was  in  connection  with 


The  (Jrusaders  setting  sail  trom  Venice. 
Page  88. 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


89 


1515] 

Princess  Mary  of  England,  sister  of  Henry  VIII.,  on  the  13th  of  August  the 
Duke  de  Longueville,  in  his  sovereign’s  name,  espoused  the  Princess  Mary  at 
Greenwich;  and  she,  escorted  to  France  by  a  brilliant  embassy,  arrived  on  the 
8th  of  October  at  Abbeville,  where  Louis  XII.  was  awaiting  her.  Mary 
Tudor  had  given  up  the  German  prince,  who  was  destined  to  become  Charles 
V.,  but  not  the  handsome  English  nobleman  she  loved.  The  duke  of  Suffolk 
went  to  France  to  see  her  after  her  marriage,  and  in  her  train  she  had  as  maid 
of  honor  a  young  girl,  a  beauty  as  well,  who  was  one  day  to  be  queen  of 
England — Anne  Boleyn. 

Less  than  three  months  after  this  marriage,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1515, 
“  the  death-bell-men  were  traversing  the  streets  of  Paris,  ringing  their  bells 
and  crying,  ‘  The  good  King  Louis,  father  of  the  people,  is  dead.’  ”  Louis 
XII.,  in  fact,  had  died  that  very  day  at  midnight,  from  an  attack  of  gout  and 
a  rapid  decline. 

He  died  sorrowing  over  the  concessions  he  had  made  from  a  patriotic 
sense  of  duty  as  much  as  from  necessity,  and  full  of  disquietude  about  the 
future. 

VII. 


The  Eenaissance  and  The  Eeformation. 

Francis  I, -Henry  H. 

(1515-1559.) 

RANCIS  I.,  his  government  and  his  times,  commence 
the  era  of  modern  France,  and  bring  clearly  to  view  the 
causes  of  her  greatnesses  and  her  weaknesses.  When, 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1515,  he  ascended  the  throne 
before  he  had  attained  his  one  and  twentieth  year,  it 
was  a  brilliant  and  brave  but  spoilt  child  that  became 
king.  He  had  been  under  the  governance  of  Artus 
Gouffier,  Sire  de  Boisy,  a  nobleman  of  Poitou,  who  had 
exerted  himself  to  make  his  royal  pupil  a  loyal  knight  well 
trained  in  the  moral  code  and  all  the  graces  of  knighthood,  but 
without  drawing  his  attention  to  more  serious  studies  or  preparing 
g?  him  for  the  task  of  government.  The  young  Francis  d’Angouleme 
lived  and  was  molded  under  the  influence  of  two  women,  his 
mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  and  his  eldest  sister,  Marguerite,  who  both 
of  them  loved  and  adored  him  with  passionate  idolatry.  The 
former  princess  gave  her  son  neither  moral  principles  nor  a  moral  example. 
Of  quite  another  sort  were  the  character  and  sentiments  of  Marguerite  de 
Valois.  She  was  born  on  the  nth  of  April,  1492,  and  was,  therefore,  only 
two  years  older  than  her  brother  Francis  ;  but  her  more  delicate  nature  was 
sooner  and  more  richly  cultivated  and  developed.  She  was  brought  up  “  with 


go 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


[1515 

strictness  by  a  most  excellent  and  most  venerable  dame,  in  whom  all  the 
virtues,  at  rivalry  one  with  another,  existed  together.”  Marguerite  learnt 
Latin,  Greek,  philosophy,  and  especially  theology.  Intellectual  pursuits, 
however,  were  far  from  absorbing  the  whole  of  this  young  soul.  “  She,”  says 
a  contemporary,  “  had  an  agreeable  voice  of  touching  tone  which  roused  the 
tender  inclinations  that  there  are  in  the  heart.”  Tenderness,  a  passionate 
tenderness,  very  early  assumed  the  chief  place  in  Marguerite’s  soul,  and  the 
first  object  of  it  was  her  brother  Francis. 

The  first  acts  of  his  government  were  sensible  and  of  good  omen.  He 
confirmed  or  renewed  the  treaties  or  truces  which  Louis  XII.,  at  the  close  of 
his  reign,  had  concluded  with  the  Venetians,  the  Swiss,  the  pope,  the  king  of 
England,  and  Archduke  Charles  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  in  order  to 
restore  peace  to  his  kingdom.  At  home  Francis  I.  maintained  at  his  council 
the  principal  and  most  tried  servants  of  his  predecessor,  among  others  the 
finance-minister,  Florimond  Robertet ;  and  he  raised  to  four  the  number  of 
the  marshals  of  France,  in  order  to  confer  that  dignity  on  Bayard’s  valiant 
friend,  James  of  Chabannes,  lord  of  La  Palice,  who  even  under  Louis  XII.  had 
been  entitled  by  the  Spaniards  “the  great  marshal  of  France.”  At  the  same 
time  he  exalted  to  the  highest  offices  in  the  State  two  new  men,  Charles, 
duke  of  Bourbon,  who  was  still  a  mere  youth  but  already  a  warrior  of  renown, 
and  Anthony  Duprat,  the  able  premier  president  of  the  parliament  of  Paris ; 
the  former  he  made  constable,  and  the  latter  chancellor  of  France. 

These  measures,  together  with  the  language  and  the  behavior  of  Francis 
I.  and  the  care  he  took  to  conciliate  all  who  approached  him,  made  a 
favorable  impression  on  France  and  on  Europe.  The  aged  king  of  Spain, 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  adopting  the  views  of  his  able  minister,  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  alone  showed  distrust  and  anxiety.  It  was  announced  at  Rome 
that  Francis  I.,  having  arrived  at  Lyons  in  July,  1515,  had  just  committed  to 
his  mother  Louise  the  regency  of  the  kingdom,  and  was  pushing  forward 
toward  the  Alps  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men  and  a  powerful  artillery.  It 
was  clear  that  Francis  I.,  though  he  had  been  but  six  months  king,  was 
resolved  and  impatient  to  resume  in  Italy,  and  first  of  all  in  Milanese,  the  war 
of  invasion  and  conquest  which  had  been  engaged  in  by  Charles  VIII.  and 
Louis  XII.  :  and  the  league  of  all  the  States  of  Italy,  save  Venice  and  Genoa, 
with  the  pope  for  their  half-hearted  patron  and  the  Swiss  for  their  fighting 
men,  were  collecting  their  forces  to  repel  the  invader. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  1515,  the  French  encountered  and  defeated 
the  Swiss  at  Melegnano,  a  town  about  three  leagues  from  Milan  ;  this  victory 
was  the  most  brilliant  day  in  the  annals  of  this  reign.  The  effect  of  the 
battle  was  great,  in  Italy  primarily,  but  also  throughout  Europe.  It  was,  at 
the  commencement  of  a  new  reign  and  under  the  impulse  communicated  by  a 
young  king,  an  event  which  seemed  to  be  decisive  and  likely  to  remain  so  for 
a  long  while.  On  the  14th  of  September,  the  day  after  the  battle,  the  bwiss 
took  the  road  back  to  their  mountains.  Francis  I.  entered  Milan  in  triumph. 
Maximilian  Sforza  took  refuge  in  the  castle,  and  twenty  days  afterward,  on 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


9[ 


1516J 

the  4th  of  October,  surrendered.  Fifteen  years  afterward,  in  June,  1530,  he 
died  in  oblivion  at  Paris.  Francis  L  regained  possession  of  all  Milaness, 
adding  thereto,  with  the  pope’s  consent,  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Piacenza, 
which  had  been  detached  from  it  in  1512.  Two  treaties,  one  of  November 
7th,  1515,  and  the  other  of  November  29th,  1516,  re-established  not  only  peace 
but  perpetual  alliance  between  the  king  of  France  and  the  thirteen  Swiss 
cantons,  with  stipulated  conditions  in  detail.  The  pope  guaranteed  to 
France  I.  the  duchy  of  Milan,  restored  to  him  those  of  Parma  and  Piacenza,  and 
recalled  his  troops  which  were  still  serving  against  the  Venetians  ;  Francis  I., 
on  his  side,  guaranteed  to  the  pope  all  the  possessions  of  the  Church, 
renounced  the  patronage  of  the  petty  princes  of  the  ecclesiastical  estate,  and 
promised  to  uphold  the  family  of  Medici. 

In  the  course  of  an  interview  they  had  at  Bologna,  Leo  X.  obtained  of 
Francis  an  agreement  which  abolished  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  Thus 
supported  by  the  Holy  See  and  by  the  Venetians,  the  king  of  France  saw  the 
road  to  Naples  once  more  opened  before  his  troops.  The  treaty  of  Noyon 
gave,  during  a  short  time,  repose  to  Europe,  and  allowed  the  two  rival? 
leisure  for  the  preparing  of  a  far  more  terrible  war.  Francis  I.  returned  tc 
Milan,  leaving  at  Bologna,  for  the  purpose  of  treating  in  detail  the  affair  of 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  his  chancellor,  Duprat,  who  had  accompanied  him 
during  all  his  campaign  as  his  adviser  and  negotiator.  The  Parliament  ol 
Paris  was  in  its  turn  attacked,  and  Duprat  having  resolved  to  strike  a  great 
blow,  an  edict  of  January  31st,  1522,  created  within  the  parliament  a  fourth 
chamber,  composed  of  eighteen  councillors  and  two  presidents,  all  of  fresh  and, 
no  doubt,  venal  appointment,  though  the  edict  dared  not  avow  as  much. 
Francis  I.  could  not  have  committed  the  negotiation  with  Leo  X.  in  respect  of 
Charles  VII.’s  Pragmatic  Sanction  to  a  man  with  more  inclination  and  better 
adapted  for  the  work  to  be  accomplished. 

The  Pragmatic  Sanction  had  three  principal  objects  : — 

1.  To  uphold  the  liberties  and  the  influence  of  the  faithful  in  the 
government  of  the  Church,  by  sanctioning  their  right  to  elect  ministers  of  the 
Christian  faith,  especially  parish  priests  and  bishops. 

2.  To  guarantee  the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  Church  herself  in  her 
relations  with  her  head,  the  pope,  by  proclaiming  the  necessity  for  the 
regular  intervention  of  councils  and  their  superiority  in  regard  to  the  pope. 

3.  To  prevent  or  reform  abuses  in  the  relations  of  the  papacy  with  the 
State  and  Church  of  France  in  the  matter  of  ecclesiastical  tribute,  especially 
as  to  the  receipt  by  the  pope,  under  the  name  of  annates ,  of  the  first  year’s 
revenue  of  the  different  ecclesiastical  offices  and  benefices. 

The  popes  had  all  of  them  protested,  since  the  days  of  Charles  VII., 
against  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  as  an  attack  upon  their  rights,  and  had 
demanded  its  abolition.  The  pope  proposed  that  the  Pragmatic,  once  for  all 
abolished,  should  be  replaced  by  a  Concordat  between  the  two  sovereigns,  and 
that  this  Concordat ,  while  putting  a  stop  to  the  election  of  the  clergy  by  the 
faithful,  should  transfer  to  the  king  the  right  of  nomination  to  bishoprics  and 


92  FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE.  [1516 

other  great  ecclesiastical  offices  and  benefices,  reserving  to  the  pope  the 
right  of  presentation  of  prelates  nominated  by  the  king. 

Francis  I.  and  his  chancellor  saw  in  the  proposed  Concordat  nothing  but 
the  great  increment  of  influence  it  secured  to  them,  by  making  all  the 
dignitaries  of  the  Church  suppliants,  at  first,  and  then  clients  of  the  kingship. 
After  some  difficulties  as  to  points  of  detail,  the  Concordat  was  concluded  and 
signed  on  the  18th  of  August,  151b.  Seven  months  afterward  it  was 
registered,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the  parliament  and  the  university 
of  Paris.  The  Concordat  of  1516  was  not  the  only,  but  it  was  the  gravest  pact 
of  alliance  concluded  between  the  papacy  and  the  French  kingship  for  the 
promotion  mutually  of  absolute  power. 

The  death  of  Maximilian  and  the  election  of  a  new  emperor  were  the 
proximate  causes  of  the  renewal  of  hostilities  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.  ; 
both  these  princes  were  candidates  and  by  bestowing  the  imperial  crown 
upon  the  latter,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  electors  adopted  the  safest  course  ; 
but  in  doing  so  they  gave  the  signal  for  a  struggle  of  the  most  desperate  and 
protracted  character. 

Whatever  pains  were  taken  by  Francis  I.  to  keep  up  a  good  appearance 
after  this  heavy  reverse,  his  mortification  was  profound  and  he  thought  of 
nothing  but  getting  his  revenge.  He  flattered  himself  he  would  find  some¬ 
thing  of  the  sort  in  a  solemn  interview  and  an  appearance  of  alliance  with 
Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England,  who  had,  like  himself,  just  undergone  in  the 
election  to  the  empire  a  less  flagrant  but  an  analogous  reverse.  It  had 
already,  in  the  previous  year  and  on  the  occasion  of  a  treaty  concluded 
between  the  two  kings  for  the  restitution  of  Tournai  to  France,  been  settled 
that  they  should  meet  before  long  in  token  of  reconciliation.  The  interview 
took  place  on  the  31st  of  May,  1520,  and  is  fully  described  in  English  history. 
A  trial  was  made  of  Henry  VIII. ’s  mediation  and  of  a  conference  at  Calais  ; 
and  a  discussion  was  raised  touching  the  legitimate  nature  of  the  protection 
afforded  by  the  two  rival  sovereigns  to  their  petty  allies.  But  the  real  fact 
was  that  Francis  I.  had  a  reverse  to  make  up  for  and  a  passion  to  gratify; 
and  the  struggle  recommenced  in  April,  1521,  in  the  Low  Countries.  The 
campaign  opened  in  the  north,  to  the  advantage  of  France,  by  the  capture  of 
Hesdin;  Admiral  Bonnivet,  who  had  the  command  on  the  frontier  of  Spain, 
reduced  some  small  forts  of  Biscay  and  the  fortress  of  Fontarabia;  and 
Marshal  de  Lautrec,  governor  of  Milaness,  had  orders  to  set  out  at  once  to  go 
and  defend  it  against  the  Spaniards  and  Imperialists  who  were  concentrating 
for  its  invasion. 

Lautrec  was  but  little  adapted  for  this  important  commission,  and  did  not 
succeed  in  preventing  Milan  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Imperialists, 
and,  after  an  uncertain  campaign  of  some  months’  duration,  he  lost  at  La 
Bicocca,  near  Monza,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1522,  a  battle,  which  left  in  the 
power  of  Francis  I.,  in  Lombardy,  only  the  citadels  of  Milan,  Cremona,  and 
Novara.  The  funds  for  the  payment  of  the  army  had  been  sent,  but  Louis  of 
Savoy  had  kept  them  back  out  of  hatred  for  Lautrec’s  sister,  the  duchess  of 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


93 


1524J 

Chateaubriand,  who,  at  that  time,  was  all  powerful  over  the  mind  of  Francis  I. 
The  king  then  allowed  the  super intendant  Semblancay,  who  was  accused  of  that 
crime,  to  perish  on  the  gallows. 

According  to  what  appears,  Bourbon  had  harbored  a  design  of  commenc¬ 
ing  his  enterprise  with  a  very  bold  stroke.  Being  informed  that  Francis  I. 
was  preparing  to  go  in  person  and  wage  war  upon  Italy,  he  had  resolved  to 
carry  him  off  on  the  road  to  Lyons  and,  when  once  he  had  the  king  in  his 
hands,  he  flattered  himself  that  he  would  do  as  he  pleased  with  the  kingdom. 
But  Francis  had  full  cognizance  of  the  details  of  the  conspiracy  through  two 
Norman  gentlemen  whom  the  constable  had  imprudently  tried  to  get  to  join 
in  it,  and  who,  not  content  with  refusing,  had  revealed  the  matter  at  confes¬ 
sion  to  the  bishop  of  Lisieux,  who  had  lost  no  time  in  giving  information  to» 
Sire  de  Breze,  grand  seneschal  of  Normandy.  Breze  at  once  reported  it  to 
the  king.  Abandoning  his  expedition  in  person  into  Italy,  he  first  concerned 
himself  for  that  internal  security  of  his  kingdom  which  was  threatened  on 
the  east  and  north  by  the  Imperialists  and  the  English,  and  on  the  south  by 
the  Spaniards,  all  united  in  considerable  force  and  already  in  motion.  Fran¬ 
cis  opposed  to  them  in  the  east  and  north  the  young  Count  Claude  of  Guise, 
the  first  celebrity  among  his  celebrated  race,  the  veteran  Louis  de  la 
Tremoille,  the  most  tried  of  all  his  warriors,  and  the  duke  of  Vendome,  head 
of  the  younger  branch  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  Into  the  south  he  sent 
Marshal  de  Lautrec,  who  was  more  brave  than  successful,  but  of  proved  fidel¬ 
ity.  All  these  captains  acquitted  themselves  honorably.  In  the  south, 
Lautrec,  after  having  made  head  for  three  days  and  three  nights  against  the 
attacks  of  a  Spanish  army  which  had  crossed  the  Pyrenees  under  the  orders 
of  the  constable  of  Castile,  forced  it  to  raise  the  siege  and  beat  a  retreat. 
Everywhere,  in  the  provinces  as  well  as  at  the  court,  the  feudal  nobility,  chief¬ 
tains  and  simple  gentlemen  remained  faithful  to  the  king. 

In  respect  of  Italy,  Francis  I.  was  less  wise  and  less  successful.  Not 
only  did  he  persist  in  the  stereotyped  madness  of  the  conquest  of  Milaness 
and  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  but  he  entrusted  it  to  his  favorite,  Admiral  Bon- 
nivet,  a  brave  soldier,  alternately  rash  and  backward.  The  campaign  of  1524 
in  Italy,  brilliant  as  was  its  beginning,  was,  as  it  went  on,  nothing  but  a  series 
of  hesitations,  contradictory  movements,  blunders  and  checks,  which  the  army 
itself  set  down  to  its  general’s  account.  The  situation  of  the  French  army 
before  Milan  was  now  becoming  more  and  more,  not  insecure  only,  but  critical. 
Bonnivet  fell  back  toward  Piedmont,  where  he  reckoned  upon  finding  a  corps 
of  five  thousand  Swiss  who  were  coming  to  support  their  compatriots  engaged 
in  the  service  of  France.  Near  Romagnano,  on  the  banks  of  the  Sesia,  the 
retreat  was  hotly  pressed  by  the  imperial  army.  On  the  30th  of  April,  1524, 
some  disorder  took  place  in  the  retreat  of  the  French;  and  Bonnivet,  being 
severely  wounded,  had  to  give  up  the  command  to  the  count  of  St.  Pol  and 
to  Chevalier  Bayard.  Bayard,  last  as  well  as  first  in  the  fight,  according  to 
his  custom,  charged  at  the  head  of  some  men-at-arms  upon  the  Imperialists 
who  were  pressing  the  French  too  closely,  when  he  was  himself  struck  by  a 


94 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


[1524 


shot  from  an  arquebus,  which  shattered  his  reins.  “  Jesus,  my  God/’  he  cried, 
“  I  am  dead  !  ”  He  then  took  his  sword  by  the  handle,  and  kissed  the  cross- 
hilt  of  it  as  the  sign  of  the  cross,  saying  aloud  as  he  did  so:  “ Have  pity  on 
me,  O  God ,  according  to  thy  great  mercy  ’  ( Miserere  mei.  Dens,  secundum  mag- 
nam  misericordiam  tuain). 

The  French  army  continued  its  retreat  under  the  orders  of  the  count  of 
St.  Pol,  and  re-entered  France  by  way  of  Suza  and  Briancon.  It  was  Francis 
I/s  third  time  of  losing  Milaness.  According  to  a  plan  settled  by  him  with 
Henry  VIII.  and  Charles  V.,  Bourbon  entered  Provence  on  the  7th  of  July, 
1524,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  which  was  to  be 
joined  before  long  by  six  or  seven  thousand  more.  He  had  no  difficulty  in 
•occupying  Antibes,  Frejus,  Draguignan,  Brignoles,  and  even  Aix.  Charles  V. 
cared  more  for  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  than  for  those  of  the  Channel ; 
he  flattered  himself  that  he  would  make  of  Marseilles  a  southern  Calais,  which 
should  connect  Germany  and  Spain,  and  secure  their  communications,  politi¬ 
cal  and  commercial.  Bourbon  objected  and  resisted  ;  it  was  the  abandon¬ 
ment  of  his  general  plan  for  this  war,  and  a  painful  proof  how  powerless  he 
was  against  the  wishes  of  the  two  sovereigns  of  whom  he  was  only  the  tool, 
although  they  called  him  their  ally.  Being  forced  to  yield,  he  began  the 
siege  of  Marseilles  on  the  19th  of  August.  The  place,  though  but  slightly 
fortified  and  ill  supplied,  made  an  energetic  resistance.  The  siege  was 
protracted  ;  the  re-enforcements  expected  by  Bourbon  did  not  arrive.  Bourbon 
resolved  to  attempt  an  assault.  Seven  soldiers  were  told  off  to  reconnoiter  ; 
four  were  killed  and  the  other  three  returned  wounded,  reporting  that  between 
the  open  breach  and  the  intrenchment  extended  a  large  ditch  filled  with  fire¬ 
works  and  defended  by  several  batteries.  The  assembled  general  officers 
looked  at  one  another  in  silence.  Whereupon  Pescara  got  up  and  went  out ; 
and  the  majority  of  the  officers  followed  him.  Bourbon  remained  almost 
alone,  divided  between  anger  and  shame.  Almost  as  he  quitted  this  scene  he 
heard  that  Francis  I.  was  advancing  toward  Provence  with  an  army.  The 
king  had  suddenly  decided  to  go  to  the  succor  of  Marseilles  which  was  making 
so  good  a  defense,  and  on  the  28th  of  September,  1524,  Bourbon  raised  the 
siege  of  Marseilles  and  resumed  the  road  to  Italy,  harassed  even  beyond 
Toulon,  by  the  French  advance  guard,  eager  in  its  pursuit  of  the  traitor  even 
more  than  of  the  enemy. 

After  Bourbon’s  precipitate  retreat  the  position  of  Francis  I.  was  a  good 
one.  He  had  triumphed  over  conspiracy  and  invasion  ;  the  conspiracy  had 
not  been  catching,  and  the  invasion  had  failed  on  all  the  frontiers.  When 
Bourbon  and  the  imperial  army  had  evacuated  Provence,  the  king  loudly 
proclaimed  his  purpose  of  pursuing  them  into  Italy,  and  of  once  more  going 
forth  to  the  conquest  of  Milaness,  and  perhaps  also  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
that  incurable  craze  of  French  kings  in  the  sixteenth  century.  In  vain  did 
his  mother  herself  write  to  him,  begging  him  to  wait  and  see  her,  for  that  she 
had  important  matters  to  impart  to  him.  He  answered  by  sending  her  the 
ordinance  which  conferred  upon  her  the  regency  during  his  absence  ;  and,  at 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


1524] 


95 


the  end  of  October,  1524,  he  had  crossed  the  Alps,  anxious  to  go  and  risk  in 
Milaness  the  stake  he  had  just  won  in  Provence  against  Charles  V. 

Arriving  speedily  in  front  of  Milan,  he  there  found  the  imperial  army 
which  had  retired  before  him  ;  there  was  a  fight  in  one  of  the  outskirts,  but 
Bourbon  recognized  the  impossibility  of  maintaining  a  siege  in  a  town  of 
which  the  fortifications  were  in  ruins,  and  with  disheartened  troops.  Bourbon 
evacuated  Milan,  and,  taking  a  resolution  as  bold  as  it  was  singular,  abruptly 
abandoned,  so  far  as  he  was  personally  concerned,  that  defeated  and  disor¬ 
ganized  army,  to  go  and  seek  for  and  reorganize  another  at  a  distance. 
Francis  followed  the  counsel  of  Bonnivet,  and  on  the  26th  of  August,  1524, 
twenty  days  after  setting  out  from  Aix  in  Provence,  he  appeared  with  his 
army  in  front  of  Pavia.  On  learning  this  resolution,  Pescara  joyously  exclaimed, 
“  We  were  vanquished  ;  a  little  while  and  we  shall  be  vanquishers.”  Pavia  had 
for  governor  a  Spanish  veteran,  Antony  de  Leyva,  who  held  out  for  nearly 
four  months,  first  against  assaults  and  then  against  investment  by  the  French 
army.  Francis  I.  decided  to  accept  battle  as  soon  as  it  should  be  offered 
him.  The  imperial  leaders,  at  a  council  held  on  the  23d  of  February,  deter¬ 
mined  to  offer  it  next  day. 

The  two  armies  were  of  pretty  equal  strength.  Francis  I.  had  the  advan¬ 
tage  in  artillery  and  in  heavy  cavalry,  called  at  that  time  the  gendarmerie,  but 
his  troops  were  inferior  in  effectives  to  the  Imperialists,  and  Charles  V.’s  two 
generals,  Bourbon  and  Pescara,  were,  as  men  of  war,  far  superior  to  Francis  I. 
and  his  favorite  Bonnivet.  After  a  desperate  struggle  the  French  were 
defeated  ;  the  gendarmerie  gave  way,  and  the  German  lanzknechts  cut  to  pieces 
the  Swiss  auxiliaries.  But  at  last  Lannoy  arrived  and  put  one  knee  on  the 
ground  before  Francis  I.,  who  handed  his  sword  to  him.  Lannoy  took  it 
with  marks  of  the  most  profound  respect,  and  immediately  gave  him  another. 
The  battle  was  over,  and  Francis  I.  was  Charles  V.’s  prisoner. 

He  had  shown  himself  an  imprudent  and  unskillful  general,  but  at  the 
same  time  a  hero.  His  conquerors,  both  officers  and  privates,  could  not  help, 
while  they  secured  his  person,  showing  their  admiration  for  him.  He  was 
conducted  to  Pizzighittone,  a  little  fortress  between  Milan  and  Cremona.  He 
wrote  thence  two  letters,  one  to  his  mother  the  regent,  and  the  other  to 
Charles  V.  The  following  is  full  text  of  the  former  letter: 

“  To  the  Regent  of  France :  Madame,  that  you  may  know  how  stands 
the  rest  of  my  misfortune :  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  left  to  me  but  honor 
and  my  life ,  which  is  safe.  And  in  order  that,  in  your  adversity,  this  news 
might  bring  you  some  little  comfort, I  prayed  for  permission  to  write  you  this 
letter,  which  was  readily  granted  me :  entreating  you,  in  the  exercise  of  your 
accustomed  prudence,  to  be  pleased  not  to  do  anything  rash,  for  I  have  hope 
after  all  that  God  will  not  forsake  me.  Commending  to  you  my  children, 
your  grandchildren,  and  entreating  you  to  give  the  bearer  a  free  passage, 
going  and  returning  to  Spain,  for  he  is  going  to  the  emperor  to  learn  how  it 
is  his  pleasure  that  I  should  be  treated.” 

Taken  prisoner  to  Spain,  the  unfortunate  monarch  was  restored  to  liberty 


96 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


[1527 


only  on  conditions  of  his  signing  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  by  which  he  abandoned 
Italy,  Burgundy,  Artois,  Flanders,  besides  restoring  to  the  constable  of  Bour¬ 
bon  his  confiscated  estates.  He  likewise  promised  to  marry  the  sister  of 
Charles  V.,  and  gave  both  his  sons  as  hostages. 

The  envoys  of  Charles  V.,  with  Lannoy,  the  viceroy  of  Naples  at  their 
head,  went  to  Cognac  to  demand  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid.  Francis 
invited  the  envoys  of  Charles  V.  to  a  solemn  meeting  of  his  court  and  council 
present  at  Cognac,  at  which  the  delegates  from  Burgundy  repeated  their 
protest.  While  availing  himself  of  this  declaration  as  an  insurmountable 
obstacle  to  the  complete  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  Francis  offered 
to  give  two  million  crowns  for  the  redemption  of  Burgundy,  and  to  observe 
the  other  arrangements  of  the  treaty,  including  the  relinquishment  of  Italy 
and  his  marriage  with  the  sister  of  Charles  V.  Charles  formally  rejected  this 
proposal,  and  required  of  him  to  keep  his  oath. 

He  did  not  like  to  summon  the  States-general  of  the  kingdom  and  recog¬ 
nize  their  right  as  well  as  their  power ;  but  after  the  meeting  at  Cognac  he 
went  to  Paris,  and,  on  the  12th  of  December,  1527,  the  parliament  met  in 
state  with  the  adjuncts  of  the  princes  of  the  blood,  a  great  number  of  cardi¬ 
nals,  bishops,  noblemen,  deputies  from  the  parliaments  of  Toulouse,  Bordeaux, 
Rouen,  Dijon,  Grenoble  and  Aix,  and  the  municipal  body  of  Paris. 

The  assembly  also  showed  emotion  ;  they  were  four  days  deliberating ; 
with  some  slight  diversity  of  form  the  various  bodies  present  came  to  the 
same  conclusion  and,  on  the  16th  of  December,  1527,  the  parliament  decided 
that  the  king  was  not  bound  either  to  return  to  Spain  or  to  execute,  as  to 
that  matter,  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  and  that  he  might  with  full  sanction  and 
justice  levy  on  his  subjects  two  millions  of  crowns  for  the  ransom  of  his  sons 
and  the  other  requirements  of  the  State. 

Before  inviting  such  manifestations  Francis  I.  had  taken  measures  to 
prevent  them  from  being  in  vain.  As  early  as  the  22d  of  May,  1526,  while  he 
was  still  deliberating  with  his  court  and  parliament  as  to  how  he  should 
behave  toward  Charles  V.  touching  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  Francis  I.  entered 
into  the  Holy  League  with  the  pope,  the  Venetians,  and  the  duke  of  Milan 
for  the  independence  of  Italy  ;  and  on  the  8th  of  August  following  Francis  I. 
and  Henry  VIII.  undertook,  by  a  special  treaty,  to  give  no  assistance  one 
against  the  other  to  Charles  V.,  and  Henry  VIII.  promised  to  exert  all  his 
efforts  to  get  Francis  I.’s  two  sons,  left  as  hostages  in  Spain,  set  at  liberty. 
Thus  the  war  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.,  after  fifteen  months’ 
suspension,  resumed  its  course. 

It  lasted  three  years  in  Italy,  from  1526  to  1529,  without  interruption, 
but  also  without  result  ;  it  was  one  of  those  wars  which  are  prolonged 
from  a  difficulty  of  living  in  peace  rather  than  from  any  serious  intention, 
on  either  side,  of  pursuing  a  clear  and  definite  object.  The  French  army 
was  wasting  itself  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  upon  petty  inconclusive 
engagements ;  its  commander,  Lautrec,  died  of  the  plague  on  the  15th  of 
August,  1528;  a  desire  for  peace  became  day  by  day  stronger;  it  was 


1534] 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


97 


made,  first  of  all,  at  Barcelona,  on  the  20th  of  June,  1529,  between 
Charles  V.  and  Pope  Clement  VII.  ;  and  then  a  conference  was  opened 
at  Cambrai  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  it  about  between  Charles  V. 
and  Francis  I.  likewise.  Two  women,  Francis  I/s  mother  and  Charles  V/s 
aunt,  Louise  of  Savoy  and  Margaret  of  Austria,  had  the  real  negotiation  of  it, 
and  it  was  called  accordingly  the  ladies  peace.  Margaret  of  Austria  died  on 
the  1st  of  December,  1530,  and  Louise  of  Savoy  on  the  22d  of  September, 
1531.  All  the  great  political  actors  seemed  hurrying  away  from  the  stage,  as  if 
the  drama  were  approaching  its  end.  Pope  Clement  VII.  died  on  the  26th  of 
September,  1534.  A  little  before  his  death  he  made  France  a  fatal  present  ; 
for,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1533,  he  married  his  niece  Catherine  de’  Medici 
to  Francis  I/s  second  son,  Prince  Henry  of  Valois,  who  by  the  death  of  his 
elder  brother,  the  dauphin  Francis,  soon  afterward  became  heir  to  the  throne. 
The  chancellor,  Anthony  Duprat,  too,  the  most  considerable  up  to  that  time 
among  the  advisers  of  Francis  I.,  died  on  the  9th  of  July,  1535. 

The  ladies1  peace,  concluded  at  Cambrai  in  1529,  lasted  up  to  1536.  In 
October,  1532,  Francis  I.  had,  at  Calais,  an  interview  with  Henry  VIII.,  at 
which  they  contracted  a  private  alliance  and  undertook  “  to  raise  between 
them  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men  to  resist  the  Turk,  as  true  zealots  for 
the  good  of  Christendom.” 

In  1536  all  the  combustibles  of  war  exploded  :  in  the  month  of  February, 
a  French  army  entered  Piedmont  and  occupied  Turin;  and,  in  the  month  of 
July,  Charles  V.  in  person  entered  Provence  at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand 
men.  Anne  de  Montmorency,  having  received  orders  to  defend  Southern 
France,  began  by  laying  it  waste  in  order  that  the  enemy  might  not  be  able 
to  live  in  it ;  Montmorency  made  up  his  mind  to  defend,  on  the  whole  coast 
of  Provence,  only  Marseilles  and  Arles;  he  pulled  down  the  ramparts  of 
the  other  towns,  which  were  left  exposed  to  the  enemy.  For  two  months 
Charles  V.  prosecuted  this  campaign  without  a  fight,  marching  through  the 
whole  of  Provence  an  army  which  fatigue,  shortness  of  provisions,  sickness 
and  ambuscades  were  decimating  ingloriously.  At  last  he  decided  upon 
retreating. 

On  returning  from  his  sorry  expedition,  Charles  V.  learned  that  a  similar 
invasion  in  the  north  of  France,  in  Picardy,  had  met  with  no  greater  success 
than  he  himself  in  Provence.  Queen  Mary  of  Hungary,  his  sister  and 
deputy  in  the  government  of  the  Low  Countries,  advised  a  local  truce  ;  his 
other  sister,  Eleanor,  the  queen  of  France,  was  of  the  same  opinion;  Francis 
I.  adopted  it  ;  and  the  truce  in  the  north  was  signed  for  a  period  of  three 
months.  Montmorency  signed  a  similar  one  for  Piedmont.  Pope  Paul  III. 
(Alexander  Farnese),  who,  on  the  13th  of  October,  1534,  had  succeeded  Clement 
VII.,  came  forward  as  mediator.  One  month  afterward,  Charles  and  Francis 
met  at  Aigues-Mortes,  and  these  two  princes,  who  had  treated  one  another  in 
so  insulting  a  manner,  exchanged  protestations  of  the  warmest  frendship. 
The  peace  lasted  six  years. 

Divers  projects  of  marriage  between  their  children  or  near  relatives  were 

7 


98 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE. 


[1542 

advanced  with  that  object,  but  nothing  came  of  them  ;  and  another  great 
war,  the  fourth,  broke  out  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.,  for  the  same 
causes  and  with  the  same  by-ends  as  ever.  It  lasted  two  years,  from  1542  to 
1544,  with  alternations  of  success  and  reverse  on  either  side,  and  several 
diplomatic  attempts  to  embroil  in  it  the  different  European  powers.  Francis 
I.  concluded  an  alliance  in  1543  with  Sultan  Soliman  II.,  and,  in  concert  with 
French  vessels,  the  vessels  of  the  pirate  Barbarossa  cruised  about  and  made 
attacks  upon  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  On  the  other  hand,  on  the 
nth  of  February,  1543,  Charles  V.  and  Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England, 
concluded  an  alliance  against  Francis  I.  and  the  Turks.  He  at  the  same  time 
convoked  a  German  diet  at  Spires.  The  diet  did  not  separate  until  it  had 
voted  twenty-four  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  horse  to  be  employed 
against  France,  and  had  forbidden  Germans,  under  severe  penalties,  to  take 
service  with  Francis  I.  In  1544  the  war  thus  became  almost  European,  and 
in  the  early  days  of  April  two  armies  were  concentrated  in  Piedmont,  both 
ready  to  deliver  a  battle  which  was,  according  to  one  side,  to  preserve  Europe 
from  the  despotic  sway  of  a  single  master,  and,  according  to  the  other,  to 
protect  Europe  against  a  fresh  invasion  of  Mussulmans. 

The  battle  was  bravely  disputed  and  for  some  time  indecisive,  even  in  the 
opinion  of  the  anxious  Count  D’Enghien,  who  was  for  awhile  in  an  awkward 
predicament ;  but  the  ardor  of  the  Gascons  and  the  firmness  of  the  Swiss 
prevailed,  and  the  French  army  was  victorious.  This  success,  however,  had 
not  the  results  that  might  have  been  expected.  The  war  continued  ;  Charles 
V.  transferred  his  principal  efforts  therein  to  the  north,  on  the  frontiers  of 
the  Low  Countries  and  France,  having  concluded  an  alliance  with  Henry 
VIII.  for  acting  in  concert  and  on  the  offensive.  (See  History  of  England.) 

Francis  I.,  in  his  life  as  a  king  and  a  soldier,  had  two  rare  pieces  of  good 
fortune :  two  great  victories,  Melegnano  and  Ceresole,  stand  out  at  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  his  reign  ;  and  in  his  direst  defeat  at  Pavia,  he  was 
personally  a  hero.  In  all  else,  as  regards  his  government,  his  policy  was 
neither  an  able  nor  a  successful  one  ;  for  two  and  thirty  years  he  was  engaged 
in  plans,  attempts,  wars,  and  negotiations  ;  he  failed  in  all  his  designs ;  he 
undertook  innumerable  campaigns  or  expeditions  that  came  to  nothing ;  he 
concluded  forty  treaties  of  war,  peace,  or  truce,  incessantly  changing  aim  and 
cause  and  allies  ;  and,  for  all  this  incoherent  activity,  he  could  not  manage 
to  conquer  either  the  empire  or  Italy  ;  he  brought  neither  aggrandizement 
nor  peace  to  France. 

Outside  of  the  political  arena,  in  quite  a  different  field  of  ideas  and  facts, 
that  is,  in  the  intellectual  field,  Francis  I.  did  better  and  succeeded  better. 
In  this  region  he  exhibited  an  instinct  and  a  taste  for  the  grand  and  the  beauti¬ 
ful  ;  he  had  a  sincere  love  for  literature,  science,  and  art ;  he  honored  and 
protected,  and  effectually  too,  their  works  and  their  representatives.  His 
reign  occupies  the  first  half  of  the  century  (the  sixteenth)  which  has  been 
called  the  age  of  Renaissance. 

The  religious  question  aside,  the  Renaissance  was  a  great  and  happy 


1534] 


FRANCE.— THE  RENAISSANCE- 


99 


thing,  which  restored  to  light  and  honor  the  works  and  glories  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  communities.  The  memorials  and  monuments  of  classical  civiliza¬ 
tion,  which  were  suddenly  removed,  at  the  fall  of  the  Greek  empire,  to  Italy 
first  and  then  from  Italy  to  France  and  throughout  the  whole  of  Western 
Europe,  impressed  with  just  admiration  people  as  well  as  princes,  and  inspired 
them  with  the  desire  of  marching  forward  in  their  turn  in  this  attractive  and 
glorious  career. 

In  literature  and  in  art,  in  history  and  in  poesy,  in  architecture  and  in 
sculpture,  they  had  produced  great  and  beautiful  works  which  were  quite 
worthy  of  surviving,  and  have,  in  fact,  survived  the  period  of  their  creation. 
Here  too  the  Renaissance  of  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity  came  in  and  altered 
the  originality  of  the  earliest  productions  of  the  middle  ages,  and  gave  to 
literature  and  to  art  in  France  a  new  direction. 

The  first  among  the  literary  creations  of  the  middle  ages  is  that  of  the 
French  language  itself.  When  we  pass  from  the  ninth  to  the  thirteenth 
century,  from  the  oath  of  Charles  the  Bald  and  Louis  the  Germanic  at 
Strasbourg  in  842,  to  the  account  of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  in  1203, 
given  by  Geoffrey  de  Villehardouin,  seneschal  of  Champagne,  what  a  space 
has  been  traversed,  what  progress  accomplished  in  the  language  of  France! 
When  the  thirteenth  century  begins,  the  French  language,  though  still  rude 
and  somewhat  fluctuating,  appears  already  rich,  varied  and  capable  of 
depicting  with  fidelity  and  energy  events,  ideas,  characters,  and  the  passions 
of  men. 

Francis  I.’s  good-will  did  more  for  learned  and  classical  literature  than 
for  poesy.  He  contributed  to  this  progress,  first  by  the  intelligent  sympathy 
he  testified  toward  learned  men  of  letters,  and  afterward  by  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  College  Royal ,  an  establishment  of  a  special,  an  elevated  and 
an  independent  sort,  where  professors  found  a  liberty  protected  against 
the  routine,  jealousy,  and  sometimes  intolerance  of  the  University  of 
Paris  and  the  Sorbonne. 

Nearly  half  a  century  before  the  Reformation  made  any  noise  in 
France,  it  had  burst  out  with  great  force  and  had  established  its  footing 
in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  England.  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague, 
both  born  in  Bohemia,  one  in  1373  and  the  other  in  1378,  had  been 
condemned  as  heretics  and  burnt  at  Constance,  one  in  1415  and  the 
other  in  1416,  by  the  decree  and  in  the  presence  o.f  the  council  which 
had  been  there  assembled.  But,  at  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  Luther  in  Germany  and  Zwingli  in  Switzerland  had  taken  in 
hand  the  work  of  the  Reformation,  and  before  half  that  century  had 
rolled  by  they  had  made  the  foundations  of  their  new  Church  so  strong 
that  their  powerful  adversaries,  with  Charles  V.  at  their  head,  felt  obliged 
to  treat  with  them,  and  recognized  their  position  in  the  European  world, 
though  all  the  while  disputing  their  right.  The  nascent  Reformation  did  not 
meet  in  France  with  either  of  the  two  important  circumstances,  politically 
considered,  which  in  Germany  and  in  England  rendered  its  first  steps 


IOO 


FRANCE.— THE  REFORMATION. 


[1536 


more  easy  and  more  secure.  It  was  in  the  cause  of  religious  creeds  alone, 
and  by  means  of  moral  force  alone,  that  she  had  to  maintain  the  strug¬ 
gles  in  which  she  engaged. 

Luther  and  Zwingli  had  distinctly  declared  war  on  the  papacy; 
Henry  VIII.  had  with  a  flourish  separated  England  from  the  Romish 
Church.  Marguerite  de  Valois  and  Bishop  Bricconnet  neither  wished  nor 
demanded  so  much ;  they  aspired  no  further  than  to  reform  the  abuses 
of  the  Romish  Church  by  the  authority  of  that  Church  itself,  in  concert 
with  its  heads,  and  according  to  its  traditional  regimen ;  they  had  no 
idea  of  more  than  dealing  kindly,  and  even  sympathetically,  with  the 
liberties  and  the  progress  of  science  and  human  intelligence.  Confined 
within  these  limits,  the  idea  was  legitimate  and  honest  enough,  but  it 
showed  want  of  foresight  and  was  utterly  vain. 

During  the  first  years  of  Francis  Ids  reign  (from  1515  to  1520) 

young  and  ardent  reformers,  such  as  William  Farel  and  his  friends,  were 
but  isolated  individuals,  eager  after  new  ideas  and  studies,  very  favor- 

ble  toward  all  that  came  to  them  from  Germany,  but  without  any 

consistency  yet  as  a  party,  and  without  having  committed  any  striking 
act  of  aggression  against  the  Roman  Church. 

Against  such  passions  the  reformers  found  Francis  I.  a  very  inde¬ 
cisive  and  very  inefficient  protector.  “I  wish,”  said  he,  “to  give  men 
of  letters  special  marks  of  my  favor.”  When  deputies  from  the  Sorbonne 
came  and  requested  him  to  put  down  the  publication  of  learned  works 
taxed  with  heresy,  “I  do  not  wish,”  he  replied,  “to  have  those  folks 
meddled  with ;  to  persecute  those  who  instruct  us  would  be  to  keep 
men  of  ability  from  coming  to  our  country.” 

The  defeat  at  Pavia  and  the  captivity  of  the  king  at  Madrid  placed 
the  governing  power  for  thirteen  months  in  the  hands  of  the  most 

powerful  foes  of  the  Reformation,  the  regent  Louise  of  Savoy  and  the 
chancellor  Duprat.  They  used  it  unsparingly,  with  the  harsh  indifference 
of  politicians-  who  will  have,  at  any  price,  peace  within  their  dominions 
and  submission  to  authority.  It  was  under  their  regimen  that  there 
took  place  the  first  martyrdom  decreed  and  executed  in  France  upon 
a  partisan  of  the  Reformation,  for  an  act  of  aggression  and  offense  against 
the  Catholic  Church,  that,  we  mean,  of  John  Leclerc,  a  wool-carder  at 
Meaux,  followed  after  a  brief  interval  by  the  burning  of  Louis  de  Berquin, 
a  gentleman  of  Artois. 

Marguerite  alone  continued  to  protect,  timidly  and  dejectedly,  those 
of  her  friends  among  the  reformers  whom  she  could  help  or  to  whom 
she  could  offer  an  asylum  in  Bearn  without  embroiling  herself  with  the 
king  her  brother  and  with  the  parliaments. 

During  the  long  truce  which  succeeded  the  peace  of  Cambrai,  from 
1532  to  1536,,  it  might  have  been  thought  for  awhile  that  the  perse¬ 
cution  in  France  was  going  to  be  somewhat  abated.  Policy  obliged 
Francis  I.  to  seek  the  support  of  the  Protestants  of  Germany  against 


Defeat  and  capture  of  Francis  I.  at  Pavia. 
Page  100. 


1 547] 


FRANCE.— THE  REFORMATION. 


IOI 


Charles  V. ;  he  was  incessantly  fluctuating  between  that  policy  and  a 
strictly  Catholic  and  a  papal  policy.  By  marrying  his  son  Henry,  on  the 
28th  of  October,  1533,  to  Catherine  de’  Medici,  niece  of  Pope  Clement 
VII.,  he  seemed  to  have  decided  upon  the  latter  course;  but  he  had 
afterward  made  a  movement  in  the  contrary  direction.  Clement  VII.  had 
died  on  the  26th  of  September,  1524;  Paul  III.  had  succeeded  him; 
and  Francis  I.  again  turned  toward  the  Protestants  of  Germany.  The 
last  and  most  atrocious  act  of  persecution  which  occurred  in  his  reign 
was  directed  not  against  isolated  individuals,  but  against  a  harmless  popu¬ 
lation.  the  Vaudois,  who  had  for  three  centuries  maintained  religious 
doctrines  of  a  strictly  evangelical  character.  In  1540  they  had  been 
condemned  as  heretics,  but  their  peaceful  habits,  the  purity  of  their  manners, 
and  the  regularity  with  which  they  paid  the  taxes,  had  induced  the  king 
to  countermand  the  execution  of  the  sentence.  In  April,  1545,  however, 
precise  and  rigorous  orders  were  transmitted  from  the  court  to  the  parlia¬ 
ment  of  Aix.  Three  thousand  of  these  unhappy  men  were  massacred  or 
burnt  in  their  dwellings ;  six  hundred  and  sixty  were  sent  to  the  hulks, 
and  the  rest,  dispersed  throughout  the  woods  and  mountains,  perished  of 
want  and  of  fatigue.  It  is  said  that  Francis  I.,  when  near  his  end,  repented 
of  this  odious  extermination  of  a  small  population.  Among  his  last  words 
to  his  son  Henry  II.  was  an  exhortation  to  cause  an  inquiry  to  be  made 
into  the  iniquities  committed  by  the  parliament  of  Aix  in  this  instance. 

It  was  quite  clear  that  the  reformation  of  the  Church  could  be 
brought  about  only  by  a  return  to  Gospel  Christianity,  and  with  this 
great  movement  the  name  of  Calvin  must  ever  be  associated  in  France, 
as  that  of  Luther  is  in  Germany,  and  that  of  Zwingli  in  Switzerland. 
The  publication  of  a  treatise  On  Clemency  shortly  after  his  conversion 
(4532),  and  in  the  midst  of  the  persecutions  ordered  by  Francis  I.  against 
the  first  Huguenots,  drew  upon  him  some  amount  of  notice.  Obliged 
to  leave  the  metropolis,  he  found  a  refuge  at  Nerac.  From  thence  he 
went  first  to  Basle,  where  he  published  his  great  work  “  Institution 
Chretienne ”  (1535);  then  to  Geneva,  where  Farel  detained  him;  after 
ward  to  Strasburg.  In  that  city  he  remained  till  the  year  1541,  when 
the  inhabitants  of  Geneva  recalled  him,  in  consequence  of  the  defeat  of 
his  adversaries.  Calvin  remained  at  Geneva  till  his  death  (1564),  exercising 
unlimited  authority,  and  displaying  all  the  qualities,  not  only  of  a  divine 
and  a  pastoral  adviser,  but  also  of  a  stern  civil  ruler. 

In  1547,  when  the  death  of  Francis  I.  was  at  hand,  that  ecclesias¬ 
tical  organization  of  Protestantism  which  Calvin  had  instituted  at  Geneva 
was  not  even  begun  in  France.  The  Reformation  pursued  its  course; 
but  a  reformed  Church  did  not  exist.  And  this  confused  mass  of  reformers 
and  reformed  had  to  face  an  old,  a  powerful,  and  a  strongly-constituted 
Church,  which  looked  upon  the  innovators  as  rebels  over  whom  it  had 
every  right  as  much  as  against  them  it  had  every  arm.  Such  was  the 
position  and  such  the  state  of  feeling  in  which  Francis  I.,  at  his  death. 


102 


FRANCE.— THE  REFORMATION. 


[1547 


on  the  31st  of  March,  1547,  left  the  two  parties  that  had  already  been  at 
grips  during  his  reign.  He  had  not  succeeded  either  in  reconciling  them 
or  in  securing  the  triumph  of  that  which  had  his  favor.  His  sister  Mar¬ 
guerite  survived  him  two  years  [she  died  December  21st,  1549],  “disgusted 
with  everything,”  say  the  historians,  and  “weary  of  life,”  said  she  herself. 

Henry  II.  had  all  the  defects  and,  with  the  exception  of  personal 
bravery,  not  one  among  the  brilliant  and  amiable  qualities  of  the  king  his 
father.  Like  Francis  I.,  he  was  rash  and  reckless  in  his  resolves  and  enter¬ 
prises,  but  without  having  the  promptness,  the  fertility  and  the  suppleness 
of  mind  which  Francis  displayed  in  getting  out  of  the  awkward  positions 
in  which  he  had  placed  himself  and  in  stalling  off  or  mitigating  the  conse¬ 
quences  of  them. 

Toward  the  close  of  1542,  a  grievous  aggravation  of  the  tax  upon  salt, 
called  gabel ,  caused  a  violent  insurrection  in  the  town  of  Rochelle,  which  was 
exempted,  it  was  said,  by  its  traditional  privileges  from  that  impost.  This 
was  put  down  by  the  king.  But  the  ordinances  as  to  the  salt-tax  were 
maintained  in  principle,  and  their  extension  led,  some  years  afterward,  to  a 
rising  of  a  more  serious  character  and  very  differently  repressed. 

In  1548,  hardly  a  year  after  the  accession  of  Henry  II.  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  rejoicings  he  had  gone  to  be  present  at  it  in  the  north  of  Italy,  he 
received  news  at  Turin  to  the  effect  that  in  Guienne,  Angoumois  and 
Saintonge  a  violent  and  pretty  general  insurrection  had  broken  out  against  the 
salt-tax,  which  Francis  I.,  shortly  before  his  death,  had  made  heavier  in  these 
provinces.  The  local  authorities  in  vain  attempted  to  repress  the  rising,  and 
it  was  put  down  in  the  most  terrible  manner  by  Constable  de  Montmorency. 
This  insurrection  was  certainly  more  serious  than  that  of  Rochelle  in  1542. 
In  1549,  scarcely  a  year  after  the  revolt  at  Bordeaux,  Henry  II.,  then  at 
Amiens,  granted  to  deputies  from  Poitou,  Rochelle,  the  district  of  Aunis, 
Limousin,  Perigord,  and  Saintonge,  almost  complete  abolition  of  the  gabel  in 
Guienne,  which  paid  the  king,  by  way  of  compensation,  two  hundred  thousand 
crowns  of  gold  for  the  expenses  of  war  or  the  redemption  of  certain  alienated 
domains. 

There  was  war  in  the  atmosphere.  The  king  and  his  advisers,  the  court 
and  the  people,  had  their  minds  almost  equally  full  of  it,  some  in  sheer  dread, 
and  others  with  an  eye  to  preparation.  Two  systems  of  policy  and  warfare, 
moreover,  divided  the  king’s  council  into  two  :  Montmorency,  now  old  and 
worn  out  in  body  and  mind,  was  for  a  purely  defensive  attitude,  no  adventures 
or  battles  to  be  sought,  but  victuals  and  all  sorts  of  supplies  to  be  destroyed 
in  the  provinces  which  might  be  invaded  by  the  enemy.  But  in  1550  a  new 
generation  had  come  into  the  world,  the  court,  and  the  army;  it  comprised 
young  men  full  of  ardor  and  already  distinguished  for  their  capacity  and 
valor;  Francis  de  Lorraine,  duke  of  Guise,  was  thirty-one;  his  brother, 
Charles  de  Guise,  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  was  only  six-and-twenty  ;  Francis  de 
Scepeaux,  who  afterward  became  Marshal  de  Vieilleville,  was  at  this  time 
nearly  forty;  Gaspard  de  Coligny  was  thirty-three;  and  his  brother,  Francis 


1556] 


FRANCE.— THE  REFORMATION. 


103 


d’Andelot,  twenty-nine.  These  men,  warriors  and  politicians  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  in  a  high  social  position  and  in  the  flower  of  their  age,  could  not 
reconcile  themselves  to  the  Constable  de  Montmorency’s  system  ;  they  thought 
that,  in  order  to  repair  the  reverses  of  France  and  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
fame,  there  was  something  else  to  be  done,  and  they  impatiently  awaited  the 
opportunity. 

It  was  not  long  coming.  At  the  close  of  1551,  a  deputation  of  the 
Protestant  princes  of  Germany  came  to  Fontainebleau  to  ask  for  the  king’s 
support  against  the  aggressive  and  persecuting  despotism  of  Charles  V.  Their 
request  having  been  granted,  the  place  of  meeting  for  the  army  was  appointed 
at  Chalons-sur-Marne,  March  10th,  1 5  5 The  king  entered  Lorraine  from 
Champagne  by  Joinville,  the  ordinary  residence  of  the  dukes  of  Guise.  He  car¬ 
ried  Pont-a-Mousson  ;  Toul  opened  its  gates  to  him  on  the  13th  of  April  ;  he 
occupied  Nancy  on  the  14th,  and  on  the  18th  he  entered  Metz,  not  without 
some  hesitation  among  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  necessity  of  a 
certain  show  of  military  force  on  the  part  of  the  leaders  of  the  royal  army. 
At  that  time  the  emperor  was  lying  ill  at  Innspruck:  where  he  had  gone  for  the 
purpose  of  watching  more  closely  the  deliberations  of  the  council  of  Trent. 
On  the  point  of  being  surprised  in  that  city  by  Maurice  of  Saxony  at  the 
head  of  the  Protestants  he  signed  with  these  the  treaty  of  Passau,  afterward 
ratified  at  Augsburg  (1552-55).  Then  he  came  to  besiege  Metz,  which  the 
duke  of  Guise  successfully  defended,  displaying  as  much  true  courage  as 
greatness  of  soul. 

During  the  next  year  (1553),  Charles  V.,  anxious  to  avenge  the  check 
which  his  forces  had  met  with,  invaded  Artois,  and  burnt  down  the  city  of 
Therouanne,  which  has  never  since  been  rebuilt.  A  short  time  after,  his 
army  was  defeated  at  Renty  by  Guise  and  Tuvannes.  In  the  mean  while, 
Marshal  Brissac  was  holding  his  ground  in  Piedmont  ;  Strozzi,  a  Florentine  in 
the  service  of  France,  and  Montluc,  defended  in  turns  the  town  of  Sienna, 
which,  at  last,  was  obliged  to  capitulate  to  the  fierce  Medichino  ;  the  French 
fleet,  commanded  by  Baron  de  la  Garde,  and  combined  with  that  of  the  Turks 
under  the  orders  of  Dragut,  threatened  the  coasts  of  Calabria  and  of  Sicily, 
ravaged  the  island  of  Elba,  and  captured  some  towns  in  Corsica,  then 
belonging  to  the  Genoese. 

These  events  decided  Charles  V.  to  abdicate.  On  the  25th  of  October, 
1555,  and  the  1st  of  January,  1556,  he  gave  over  to  his  son  Philip  the  kingdom 
of  Spain,  with  the  sovereignty  of  Burgundy  and  the  Low  Countries,  and  to 
his  younger  brother  Ferdinand  the  empire,  together  with  the  original  heritage 
of  the  house  of  Austria ;  he  then  retired  personally  to  the  monastery  of 
Yuste.  Henry  II.  also  desired  rest  ;  and  the  Constable  de  Montmorency 
wished  above  everything  for  the  release  of  his  son  Francis,  who  had  been  a 
prisoner  since  the  fall  of  Therouanne.  A  truce  for  five  years  was  signed  at 
Vaucelles  on  the  5th  of  February,  1556,  and  Coligny,  quite  young  still,  but 
already  admiral  and  in  high  esteem,  had  the  conduct  of  negotiation. 

Philip  II.  continued  his  father’s  policy,  and  took  measures  for  promptly 


104 


FRANCE.— THE  REFORMATION. 


[1557 


entering  upon  a  fresh  campaign.  By  his  marriage  with  Mary  Tudor,  queen 
of  England,  he  had  secured  for  himself  a  powerful  ally  in  the  north  ;  the 
queen’s  influence  and  the  distrust  excited  in  England  by  Henry  II.  prevailed 
over  the  pacific  desires  of  the  nation  ;  and  Mary  sent  a  simple  herald  to  carry 
to  the  king  of  France  at  Reims  her  declaration  of  war.  Henry  accepted  it 
politely  but  resolutely.  A  negotiation  was  commenced  for  accomplishing  the 
marriage,  long  since  agreed  upon,  between  the  young  queen  of  Scotland, 
Mary  Stuart,  and  Henry  II. ’s  son,  Francis,  dauphin  of  France.  The  dauphin 
of  France  was  a  year  younger  than  the  Scottish  princess  ;  on  the  19th  of 
April,  1558,  the  espousals  took  place  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Louvre,  and  the 
marriage  was  celebrated  in  the  church  of  Notre-Dame. 

In  the  mean  while  Henry  II.  made  an  alliance  with  Pope  Paul  IV.,  and 
sent  two  armies,  one  into  the  Netherlands,  under  the  command  of  Montmo¬ 
rency,  the  other  into  Italy,  under  that  of  the  duke  of  Guise.  Montmorency 
was  thoroughly  defeated  at  Saint-Quentin  by  the  duke  of  Savoy,  Philibert 
Emmanuel  (1557),  and  the  French  general  himself  remained  in  the  power  of 
the  enemy.  Admiral  Coligny  held  in  check  for  seventeen  days  the  victor 
before  that  town.  Guise  saved  France,  not  by  attacking  the  Spaniards,  but 
by  surprising  Calais,  which  was,  after  eight  days’  siege,  taken  from  the 
English,  who  had  occupied  it  for  the  space  of  two  hundred  and  eleven  years. 
The  news  of  this  event  was  a  death-blow  for  Mary. 

At  last  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Cateau-Cambresis  (1559)  between  Henry  II. 
and  Elizabeth,  who  had  become  queen  of  England  at  the  death  of  her  sister 
Mary  [November  17th,  1 558]  ;  and  next  day,  April  3d,  between  Henry  II., 
Philip  II.  and  the  allied  princes  of  Spain,  among  others  the  prince  of  Orange, 
William  the  Silent,  who,  while  serving  in  the  Spanish  army,  was  fitting  himself 
to  become  the  leader  of  the  reformers  and  the  liberator  of  the  Low  Countries. 
The  malcontents,  for  the  absence  of  political  liberty  does  not  suppress  them 
entirely,  raised  their  voices  energetically  against  this  last  treaty  signed  by  the 
king,  with  the  sole  desire,  it  was  supposed,  of  obtaining  the  liberation  of  his 
two  favorites,  the  Constable  de  Montmorency  and  Marshal  de  Saint-Andre, 
who  had  been  prisoners  in  Spain  since  the  defeat  at  Saint-Quentin. 

France  was  once  more  at  peace  with  her  neighbors,  and  seemed  to  have 
nothing  more  to  do  than  to  gather  in  the  fruits  thereof.  But  she  had  in  her 
own  midst  questions  far  more  difficult  of  solution  than  those  of  her  external 
policy,  and  these  perils  from  within  were  threatening  her  more  seriously  than 
any  from  without.  In  1561,  it  was  calculated  that  there  were  two  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fifty  reformed,  or,  as  the  expression  then  was,  rectified 
(1 dressees ),  churches.  It  is  clear  that  the  movement  of  the  Reformation  in  the 
sixteenth  century  was  one  of  those  spontaneous  and  powerful  movements 
which  have  their  source  and  derive  their  strength  from  the  condition  of  men’s 
souls  and  of  whole  communities,  and  not  merely  from  the  personal  ambitions 
and  interests  which  soon  come  and  mingle  with  them,  whether  it  be  to 
promote  or  to  retard  them.  All  the  resources  of  French  civil  jurisdiction 
appeared  to  be  insufficient  against  the  reformers.  They  held  at  Paris,  in 


FRANCE.— THE  REFORMATION. 


105 


1559] 

May,  1559,  their  first  general  synod;  and  eleven  fully  established  churches 
sent  deputies  to  it.  This  synod  drew  up  a  form  of  faith  called  the  Galliccui 
Confession ,  and  likewise  a  form  of  discipline.  The  king  of  Navarre,  Anthony 
de  Bourbon,  Prince  Louis  de  Conde,  his  brother,  and  many  other  lords  had 
joined  the  new  faith.  The  queen  of  Navarre,  Jeanne  d’Albret,  in  her  early 
youth  “was  as  fond  of  a  ball  as  of  a  sermon,”  says  Brantome,  “and  she  had 
advised  her  spouse,  Anthony  de  Bourbon,  who  inclined  toward  Calvinism,  not 
to  perplex  himself  with  all  these  opinions.”  In  15 59  she  was  passionately 
devoted  to  the  faith  and  the  cause  of  the  Reformation.  At  last  the 
Reformation  had  really  great  leaders,  men  who  had  power,  and  were 
experienced  inThe  affairs  of  the  world  ;  it  was  becoming  a  political  party  as 
well  as  a  religious  conviction,  and  the  French  reformers  were  henceforth  in 
a  condition  to  make  war  as  well  as  die  at  the  stake. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1559,  a  brilliant  tournament  was  celebrated  in  lists 
erected  at  the  end  of  the  street  of  Saint-Antoine,  almost  at  the  foot  of  the 
Bastile.  Henry  II.,  the  queen,  and  the  whole  court  had  been  present  at  it  for 
three  days.  The  entertainment  was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  king,  who  had 
run  several  tilts  “  like  a  sturdy  and  skillful  cavalier,”  wished  to  break  yet 
another  lance,  and  bade  the  Count  de  Montgomery,  captain  of  the  guards,  to 
run  against  him.  Montgomery  excused  himself;  but  the  king  insisted.  The 
tilt  took  place.  The  two  jousters,  on  meeting,  broke  their  lances  skillfully; 
but  Montgomery  forgot  to  drop  at  once,  according  to  usage,  the  fragment 
remaining  in  his  hand ;  he  unintentionally  struck  the  king’s  helmet  and  raised 
the  visor,  and  a  splinter  of  wood  entered  Henry’s  eye,  who  fell  forward  upon 
his  horse’s  neck.  He  languished  for  eleven  days  and  expired  on  the  10th  0/ 
July,  1559,  aged  forty  years  and  some  months. 


Till. 


THE  WABS  OF  KEUGION. 


FRANCIS  II.  1559 — HENRY  III.  1 589. 


URING  the  course,  and  especially  at  the  close  of 
Henry  II.’s  reign,  two  rival  matters — on  the  one 
hand  the  numbers,  the  quality  and  the  zeal  of  the 
reformers,  and  on  the  other,  the  anxiety,  prejudice, 
and  power  of  the  Catholics — had  been  simulta¬ 
neously  advancing  in  development  and  growth. 
Between  the  16th  of  May,  1558,  and  the  10th  of 
July,  1559,  fifteen  capital  sentences  had  been  executed  in  Dau- 
phiny,  in  Normandy,  in  Poitou,  and  at  Paris.  Two  royal  edicts, 
one  dated  July  24th,  1558,  and  the  other  June  14th,  1559,  had 
renewed  and  aggravated  the  severity  of  penal  legislation  against 
heretics.  To  secure  the  registration  of  the  latter,  Henry  II., 
together  with  the  princes  and  the  officers  of  the  crown,  had 
repaired  in  person  to  parliament ;  some  disagreement  had  already 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  that  great  body,  which  was  then  com¬ 
posed  of  a  hundred  and  thirty  magistrates ;  the  seniors  who  sat  in  the  great 
chamber  had  in  general  shown  themselves  to  be  more  inclined  to  severity, 
and  the  juniors,  who  formed  the  chamber  called  La  Tournelle,  more  inclined 
to  indulgence  toward  accusations  of  heresy.  The  disagreement  reached  its 
climax  in  the  very  presence  of  the  king.  Two  councillors,  Dubourg  and 
Dufaure,  spoke  so  warmly  of  reforms  which  were,  according  to  them,  necessary 
and  legitimate,  that  their  adversaries  did  not  hesitate  to  tax  them  with  being 
reformers  themselves.  The  king  had  them  arrested  and  three  of  their 
colleagues  with  them.  Such  were  the  personal  feelings  and  the  relative  posi¬ 
tions  of  the  two  parties  when  Francis  II.,  a  boy  of  sixteen,  a  poor  creature 
both  in  mind  and  body,  ascended  the  throne.  The  Constable  de  Montmorency 
and  Henry  II.’s  favorite,  Diana  de  Poitiers,  were  dismissed,  the  latter  in  a 
harsh  manner,  and  the  power  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  queen-mother, 
Catherine  de’  Medici,  advised  by  the  Guises. 

The  Guises  were,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  representatives  and  the 
champions  of  the  different  cliques  and  interests,  religious  or  political,  sincere 
in  their  belief  or  shameless  in  their  avidity,  and  all  united  under  the  flag  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  During  the  last  six  months  of  1559  the  edict  issued  by 
Henry  II.  from  Ecouen  was  not  only  strictly  enforced  but  aggravated  by 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


107 


1560J 

fresh  edicts :  a  special  chamber  was  appointed  and  chosen  among  the  parlia¬ 
ment  of  Paris,  which  was  to  have  sole  cognizance  of  crimes  and  offenses 
against  the  Catholic  religion.  A  proclamation  of  the  new  king,  Francis  II., 
ordained  that  houses  in  which  assemblies  of  reformers  took  place  should  be 
razed  and  demolished.  It  was  “  death  to  the  promoters  of  unlawful  assemblies 
for  purposes  of  religion  or  for  any  other  cause.”  Another  royal  act  provided 
that  all  persons,  even  relatives,  who  received  among  them  anyone  condemned 
for  heresy,  should  seize  him  and  bring  him  to  justice,  in  default  whereof  they 
would  suffer  the  same  penalty  as  he.  Individual  condemnations  and  execu¬ 
tions  abounded  after  these  general  measures ;  between  the  2d  of  August  and 
the  31st  of  December,  1559,  eighteen  persons  were  burned  alive  for  open 
heresy,  or  for  having  refused  to  communicate  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
Catholic  Church  or  go  to  mass,  or  for  having  hawked  about  forbidden  books. 
Finally,  in  December,  the  five  councillors  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  whom, 
six  months  previously,  Henry  II.  had  ordered  to  be  arrested  and  shut  up  in 
the  Bastile,  were  dragged  from  prison  and  brought  to  trial.  The  chief  of 
them,  Anne  Dubourg,  was  condemned  on  the  22d  of  December,  and  put  to 
death  the  next  day  in  the  Place  de  Greve. 

Apart  from,  we  do  not  mean  to  say  above,  the  two  great  parties  which 
were  arrayed  in  the  might  and  appeared  as  the  representatives  of  the  national 
ideas  and  feelings,  the  queen-mother,  Catherine  de’  Medici,  was  quietly  labor¬ 
ing  to  form  another,  a  party  strictly  Catholic,  but  regarding  as  a  necessity  the 
task  of  humoring  the  reformers  and  granting  them  such  concessions  as  might 
prevent  explosions  fraught  with  peril  to  the  State.  The  Constable  de  Mont¬ 
morency  sometimes  issued  forth  from  Chantilly  to  go  and  aid  the  queen- 
mother,  in  whom  he  had  no  confidence,  but  whom  he  preferred  to  the  Guises. 
A  former  councillor  of  the  parliament,  for  a  long  while  chancellor  under 
Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.,  and  again  summoned  under  Francis  II.  by  Catherine 
de’  Medici  to  the  same  post,  Francis  Olivier,  was  an  honorable  executant  of 
the  party’s  indecisive  but  moderate  policy.  He  died  on  the  15th  of  March, 
1560;  and  Catherine,  in  concert  with  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  had  the  chan¬ 
cellorship  thus  vacated  conferred  upon  Michael  de  l’Hospital,  a  magistrate 
already  celebrated  and  destined  to  become  still  more  so. 

A  few  months,  and  hardly  so  much,  after  the  accession  of  Francis  II.,  a 
serious  matter  brought  into  violent  collision  the  three  parties.  The  suprem¬ 
acy  of  the  Guises  was  insupportable  to  the  reformers  and  irksome  to  many 
lukewarm  or  wavering  members  of  the  Catholic  nobility.  The  crown  refused 
to  pay  its  most  lawful  debts,  and  duns  were  flocking  to  the  court.  To  get 
rid  of  them,  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine  had  a  proclamation  issued  by  the  king, 
warning  all  persons,  of  whatever  condition,  who  had  come  to  dun  for  payment 
of  debts,  for  compensations  or  for  graces,  to  take  themselves  off  within  twenty- 
four  hours  on  pain  of  being  hanged  ;  and,  that  it  might  appear  how  seriously 
meant  the  threat  was,  a  very  conspicuous  gibbet  was  erected  at  Fontainebleau 
close  to  the  palace.  This  affront  led  the  Huguenots,  assisted  by  the  other 
malcontents,  to  form  a  scheme  whereby  the  king  should  be  seized,  placed 


108 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


[1560 

under  a  kind  of  surveillance,  and  the  power  of  the  Lorraine  princes  destroyed 
forever.  Conde  was  evidently  at  the  head  of  the  plot,  but  the  management 
of  the  whole  affair  was  entrusted  to  a  Perigord  gentilhomme ,  Godefroid  de 
Barry,  sieur  de  la  Renaudie.  The  court  was  then  at  Blois,  and  on  rumors 
being  spread  abroad  of  the  discovery  of  a  plot,  Francois  de  Guise  suddenly 
removed  the  king  to  Amboise,  which  could  more  easily  be  defended  against 
a  coup  de  main.  The  lords  and  gentlemen  attached  to  the  court  made  sallies 
all  around  Amboise  to  prevent  any  unexpected  attack.  On  the  18th  of  March, 
La  Renaudie,  who  was  scouring  the  country,  seeking  to  rally  his  men,  encoun¬ 
tered  a  body  of  royal  horse  who  were  equally  hotly  in  quest  of  the  conspirators , 
the  two  detachments  attacked  one  another  furiously ;  La  Renaudie  was  killed, 
and  his  body,  which  was  carried  to  Amboise,  was  strung  up  to  a  gallows  on 
the  bridge  over  the  Loire  with  this  scroll :  “  This  is  La  Renaudie,  called  La 
Forest,  captain  of  the  rebels,  leader  and  author  of  the  sedition.”  The  impor¬ 
tant  result  of  the  riot  of  Amboise  [tumult c  d' Amboise),  as  it  was  called,  was  an 
ordinance  of  Francis  II.,  who,  on  the  17th  of  March,  1560,  appointed  Duke 
Francis  of  Guise  “his  lieutenant-general,  representing  him  in  person  absent 
and  present  in  this  good  town  of  Amboise  and  other  places  of  the  realm.” 

The  Guises  made  a  cruel  use  of  their  easy  victory;  “  for  a  whole  month,” 
according  to  contemporary  chronicles,  “  there  was  nothing  but  hanging  or 
drowning  folks.  The  Loire  was  covered  with  corpses  strung,  six,  eight,  ten 
and  fifteen,  to  long  poles.  .  .  .”  There  was,  throughout  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  country,  a  profound  feeling  of  indignation  against  the  Lorraine  princes. 

On  all  sides  there  was  a  demand  for  the  convocation  of  the  States-general. 
The  Guises  and  the  queen-mother,  who  dreaded  this  great  and  independent 
national  power,  attempted  to  satisfy  public  opinion  by  calling  an  assembly  of 
notables,  not  at  all  numerous,  and  chosen  by  themselves.  It  was  summoned 
to  meet  on  August  21st,  1560,  at  Fontainebleau,  in  the  apartments  of  the 
queen-mother.  The  cardinal  of  Lorraine  having  given  his  consent  to  the 
holding  of  the  States-general,  his  opinion  was  adopted  by  the  king,  the  queen- 
mother  and  the  assemblage.  An  edict,  dated  August  26th,  convoked  a  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  States-general  at  Meaux  on  the  10th  of  December  following. 
Meanwhile,  it  was  announced  that  the  punishment  of  sectaries  would,  for  the 
present,  be  suspended,  but  that  the  king  reserved  to  himself  and  his  judges 
the  right  of  severely  chastising  those  who  had  armed  the  populace  and  kindled 
sedition. 

The  elections  to  the  States-general  were  very  stormy ;  all  parties  displayed 
the  same  ardor.  Despite  the  entreaties  of  their  staunchest  friends,  the  king 
of  Navarre  and  Conde  came  to  Orleans.  The  Guises,  who  had  sufficient  proofs 
against  the  latter,  caused  him  to  be  arrested  as  soon  as  he  had  entered  the 
town,  and  wished  to  murder  Navarre,  whom  they  could  not  get  rid  of  by  legal 
means.  At  the  appointed  moment,  however,  Francois  refused  to  give  the 
signal,  and  so  this  part  of  the  scheme  failed.  In  the  mean  while  a  special  com¬ 
mission  had  been  named  to  try  Conde  ;  he  was  condemned  to  death,  and 
would  have  certainly  perished  had  not  the  courageous  L’Hospital  refused  to 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


109 


1561] 

sign  the  sentence.  Thus  some  time  was  gained,  and  as  the  king  was  on  his 
death-bed  a  short  delay  proved  the  salvation  of  Conde’s  life.  Francis  II.  died 
on  the  5th  of  December;  he  had  reigned  seventeen  months. 

Men  were  wonderfully  far  from  understanding  the  principle  of  religious 
liberty  in  1560,  at  the  accession  of  Charles  IX.,  a  child  ten  years  old.  Around 
that  royal  child,  and  seeking  to  have  the  mastery  over  France  by  being 
masters  over  him,  were  struggling  the  three  great  parties  at  that  time  occupy¬ 
ing  the  stage  in  the  name  of  religion :  the  Catholics  rejected  altogether  the 
idea  of  religious  liberty  for  the  Protestants  ;  the  Protestants  had  absolute 
need  of  it,  for  it  was  their  condition  of  existence  ;  but  they  did  not  wish  for 
it  in  the  case  of  the  Catholics  their  adversaries.  The  third  party  {tiers  parti), 
as  we  call  it  nowadays,  wished  to  hold  the  balance  continually  wavering 
between  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants,  conceding  to  the  former  and  the 
latter,  alternately,  that  measure  of  liberty  which  was  indispensable  for  most 
imperfect  maintenance  of  the  public  peace  and  reconcilable  with  the  sover¬ 
eign  power  of  the  kingship.  On  such  conditions  was  the  government  of 
Charles  IX.  to  establish  its  existence. 

The  new  king,  on  announcing  to  the  parliament  the  death  of  his  brother, 
wrote  to  them  that  “  confiding  in  the  virtues  and  prudence  of  the  queen- 
mother,  he  had  begged  her  to  take  in  hand  the  administration  of  the  king¬ 
dom,  with  the  wise  counsel  and  advice  of  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  the 
notables  and  great  personages  of  the  late  king’s  council.”  A  few  months 
afterward  the  States-general,  assembling  first  at  Orleans  and  afterward  at 
Pontoise,  ratified  this  declaration  by  recognizing  the  placing  of  “  the  young  king 
Charles  IX.’s  guardianship  in  the  hands  of  Catherine  de’  Medici,  his  mother, 
together  with  the  principal  direction  of  affairs,  but  without  the  title  of  regent.” 

The  power  really  belonged  to  Catherine  de’  Medici,  if  she  had  only  known 
how  to  keep  it.  She,  however,  merely  took  it  away  from  the  heads  of  the 
Guises,  chiefs  of  the  Catholic  party,  but  did  not  make  any  use  of  it  herself. 
Guise  soon  recovered  the  influence  he  had  lost  at  first,  and  the  court  rendered 
this  easy  for  him  by  publishing  the  edicts  of  Saint  Germain,  favorable  to  the 
Huguenots,  and  by  admitting  the.  divines  of  the  Protestant  persuasion  to  a 
solemn  discussion  at  the  colloque  of  Poissy.  While  the  Calvinists  were 
revolting  at  Nismes,  the  followers  of  the  Duke  de  Guise  massacred  a  company 
of  Protestants  at  Vassy  in  Champagne  (1562).  The  civil  war  was  then  begun. 

From  1561  to  1572  there  were  in  France  eighteen  or  twenty  massacres  of 
Protestants,  four  or  five  of  Catholics,  and  thirty  or  forty  single  murders  suffi¬ 
ciently  important  to  have  been  kept  in  remembrance  by  history. 

The  first  religious  war,  under  Charles  IX.,  appeared  on  the  point  of 
breaking  out  in  April,  1561  ;  some  days  after  that  the  duke  of  Guise,  returning 
from  the  massacre  of  Vassy,  had  entered  Paris,  on  the  16th  of  March,  in 
triumph.  The  queen-mother,  in  dismay,  carried  off  the  king  to  Melun  at  first, 
and  then  to  Fontainebleau,  while  the  prince  of  Conde,  having  retired  to 
Meaux,  summoned  to  his  side  his  relatives,  his  friends,  and  all  the  leaders  of 
the  reformers.  For  some  days  Catherine  and  L’Hospital  tried  to  remain  out 


I IO 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


[1563 


of  Paris  with  the  young  king,  whom  Guise,  the  Constable  de  Montmorency 
and  the  king  of  Navarre  went  to  demand  back  from  them.  They  were  obliged 
to  submit  to  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  The  constable  was  the 
first  to  enter  Paris,  and  went,  on  the  2d  of  April,  and  burnt  down  the  two 
places  of  worship  which,  by  virtue  of  the  decree  of  January  17th,  1561,  had 
been  granted  to  the  Protestants.  A  council  was  assembled  at  the  Louvre  to 
deliberate  as  to  the  declaration  of  war,  which  was  deferred.  While  the  king 
was  on  his  way  back  to  Paris,  Conde  hurried  off  to  take  up  his  quarters  at 
Orleans,  whither  Coligny  went  promptly  to  join  him.  They  signed  with  the 
gentlemen  who  came  to  them  from  all  parts  a  compact  of  association  “  for  the 
honor  of  God,  for  the  liberty  of  the  king,  his  brothers  and  the  queen-mother, 
and  for  the  maintenance  of  decrees ;  ”  and  Conde,  in  writing  to  the  Protestant 
princes  of  Germany  to  explain  to  them  his  conduct,  took  the  title  of  protector 
of  the  house  and  crown  of  France.  Negotiations  still  went  on  for  nearly  three 
months.  The  chiefs  of  the  two  parties  attempted  to  offer  one  another  gener¬ 
ous  and  pacific  solutions.  Neither  party  liked  to  acknowledge  itself  beaten 
in  this  way,  without  having  struck  a  blow. 

On  both  sides  was  displayed  equal  enthusiasm  ;  the  first  armies  that  were 
raised  distinguished  themselves  by  the  utmost  strictness ;  no  debauchery,  no 
gambling,  no  swearing ;  religious  worship  morning  and  evening.  But  under 
these  externals  of  piety  the  hearts  retained  all  their  cruelty.  Montluc,  gov¬ 
ernor  of  Guienne,  went  about  accompanied  by  a  band  of  executioners.  In  the 
province  of  Dauphine,  a  Protestant  chieftain,  Baron  des  Adrets,  retaliated  in 
the  most  cruel  manner.  He  obliged  his  prisoners  to  throw  themselves  down 
from  the  top  of  a  high  tower  on  the  pikes  and  spears  of  his  soldiers. 

Guise  was,  first,  conqueror  at  Dreux ;  he  made  a  prisoner  of  Conde,  gen¬ 
eral  of  the  Protestant  army,  and  gave  on  that  occasion  proofs  of  a  generosity 
which  could  scarcely  have  been  expected  under  such  circumstances. 

The  results  of  the  battle  of  Dreux  were  serious,  and  still  more  serious 
from  the  fate  of  the  chiefs  than  from  the  number  of  the  dead.  The  comman¬ 
ders  of  the  two  armies,  the  Constable  de  Montmorency  and  the  prince  of 
Conde,  were  wounded  and  prisoners.  One  of  the  triumvirs,  Marshal  de  Saint- 
Andre,  had  been  killed  in  action.  The  Catholics’  wavering  ally,  Anthony  de 
Bourbon,  king  of  Navarre,  had  died  before  the  battle  of  a  wound  which  he 
had  received  at  the  siege  of  Rouen  ;  and  on  his  death-bed  had  resumed  his 
Protestant  bearing,  saying  that,  if  God  granted  him  grace  to  get  well,  he 
would  have  nothing  but  the  Gospel  preached  throughout  the  realm.  Orleans 
was  at  that  time  the  principal  stronghold  of  the  Protestant  party ;  it  would 
certainly  have  been  taken  but  for  the  assassination  of  Guise  whom  the  Protest¬ 
ant  gentleman  Poltrot  de  Mere  shot  in  the  most  treacherous  manner  (1563). 
Arrested,  removed  to  Paris,  put  to  the  torture  and  questioned  by  the  commis¬ 
sioners  of  parliament,  Poltrot  at  one  time  confirmed  and  at  another  disavowed 
his  original  assertions.  Coligny,  he  said,  had  not  suggested  the  project  to 
him,  but  had  cognizance  of  it,  and  had  not  attempted  to  deter  him.  The 
decree  sentenced  Poltrot  to  the  punishment  of  regicides.  He  underwent  it 


Assassination  of  the  Duke  Francis  of  Guise  by  Poltrot  de  Mere. 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  1J0. 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


1 1 1 


150;] 

on  the  1 8th  of  March,  1563,  in  the  Place  de  Greve,  preserving  to  the  very  end 
that  fierce  energy  of  hatred  and  vengeance  which  had  prompted  his  deed. 

Negotiations  were  entered  into  with  the  two  captive  generals,  the  prince  of 
Conde  and  the  Constable  de  Montmorency;  and,  on  the  19th  of  March, 
peace  was  concluded  at  Amboise  in  the  form  of  an  edict  which  granted  to 
the  Protestants  the  concessions  recognized  as  indispensable  by  the  crown 
itself,  and  regulated  the  relations  of  the  two  creeds,  pending  “  the  remedy  of 
time,  the  decisions  of  a  holy  council,  and  the  king’s  majority.”  The 
burgesses  were  treated  less  favorably  ;  the  reformed  worship  was  maintained 
in  the  towns  in  which  it  had  been  practiced  up  to  the  7th  of  March  in  the 
current  year  ;  but  beyond  that  and  noblemen’s  mansions.,  this  worship  might 
not  be  celebrated,  save  in  the  faubourgs  of  one  single  town  in  every  bailiwick 
or  seneschalty.  Paris  and  its  district  were  to  remain  exempt  from  any 
exercise  “  of  the  said  reformed  religion.” 

During  the  negotiations,  and  as  to  the  very  basis  of  the  edict  of  March 
19th,  1563,  the  Protestants  were  greatly  divided:  the  soldiers  and  the 
politicians,  with  Conde  at  their  head,  desired  peace,  and  thought  that  the 
concessions  made  by  the  Catholics  ought  to  be  accepted.  The  majority  of 
the  reformed  pastors  and  theologians  cried  out  against  the  insufficiency  of 
the  concessions,  and  were  astonished  that  there  should  be  so  much  hurry  to 
make  peace  when  the  Catholics  had  just  lost  their  most  formidable  captain. 
It  was  not  long  before  facts  put  the  malcontents  in  the  right.  Between  1563 
and  1567  murders  of  distinguished  Protestants  increased  strangely,  and 
excited  among  their  families  anxiety,  accompanied  by  a  thirst  for  vengeance. 
The  Guises  and  their  party,  on  their  side,  persisted  in  their  outcries  for 
proceedings  against  the  instigators,  known  or  presumed,  of  the  murder  of 
Duke  Francis.  It  was  plainly  against  Admiral  de  Coligny  that  these  cries 
were  directed ;  the  king  and  the  queen-mother  could  find  no  other  way  of 
stopping  an  explosion  than  to  call  the  matter  on  before  the  privy  council  and 
’cause  to  be  there  drawn  up,  on  the  29th  of  January,  1566,  a  solemn  decree 
“  declaring  the  admiral’s  innocence  on  his  own  affirmation,  given  in  the 
presence  of  the  king  and  the  council  as  before  God  himself,  that  he  had  not 
had  anything  to  do  with  or  approved  of  the  said  homicide.” 

At  the  same  time  that  the  war  was  proceeding  among  the  provinces  with 
this  passionate  doggedness,  royal  decrees  were  alternately  confirming  and 
suppressing  or  weakening  the  securities  for  liberty  and  safety  which  the 
decree  of  Amboise,  on  the  19th  of  March,  1563,  had  given  to  the  Protestants 
by  way  of  re-establishing  peace.  Even  Conde  could  not  delude  himself  any 
longer.  He  quitted  the  court  to  take  his  stand  again  with  his  own  party.  In 
September,  1567,  the  second  religious  war  broke  out. 

It  was  short  and  not  decisive  for  either  party.  At  the  outset  of  the 
campaign,  success  was  with  the  Protestants ;  forty  towns  opened  their  gates 
to  them  or  fell  into  their  hands.  They  were  within  an  ace  of  surprising  the 
king  at  Monceaux,  and  he  never  forgot,  says  Montluc,  that  “  the  Protestants 
had  made  him  do  the  stretch  from  Meaux  to  Paris  at  something  more  than  a 


I  12 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


[1568 


walk.”  Defeated  at  St.  Denis  (November  10th,  1567),  but  still  powerful, 
Coligny  and  Conde  imposed  upon  the  court  the  peace  of  Longjumeau  (1568), 
confirming  the  terms  of  that  o.f  Amboise. 

Scarcely  six  months  having  elapsed,  in  August,  1568,  the  third  religious 
war  broke  out.  The  written  guarantees  given  in  the  treaty  of  Longjumeau 
for  security  and  liberty  on  behalf  of  the  Protestants  were  misinterpreted  or 
violated.  Massacres  and  murders  of  Protestants  became  more  numerous,  and 
were  committed  with  more  impunity  than  ever:  in  1568  and  1569,  at  Amiens, 
at  Auxerre,  at  Orleans,  at  Rouen,  at  Bourges,  at  Troyes,  and  at  Blois, 
Protestants,  at  one  time  to  the  number  of  140  or  120,  or  53,  or  40,  and  at 
another  singly,  with  just  their  wives  and  children,  were  massacred,  burnt,  and 
hunted  by  the  excited  populace,  without  any  intervention  on  the  part  of  the 
magistrates  to  protect  them  or  to  punish  their  murderers. 

The  queen-mother  attempted  to  take  possession  of  the  two  Protestant 
leaders  ;  Conde,  however,  managed  to  enter  La  Rochelle.  The  Protestant 
nobles  of  Saintonge  and  Poitou  flocked  in.  A  royal  ally  was  announced  ;  the 
queen  of  Navarre,  Jeanne  d’Albret,  was  bringing  her  son  Henry,  fifteen  years 
of  age,  whom  she  was  training  up  to  be  Henry  IV.  Conde  went  to  meet 
them,  and,  on  the  28th  of  September,  1568,  all  this  flower  of  French  Prot¬ 
estantism  was  assembled  at  La  Rochelle,  ready  and  resolved  to  strike  another 
blow  for  the  cause  of  religious  liberty. 

It  was  the  longest  and  most  serious  of  the  four  wars  of  this  kind  which 
so  profoundly  agitated  France  in  the  reign  of  Charles  IX.  This  one  lasted 
from  the  24th  of  August,  1568,  to  the  8th  of  August,  1570,  between  the 
departure  of  Conde  and  Coligny  for  La  Rochelle  and  the  treaty  of  peace  of 
St.  Germain-en-Laye :  a  hollow  peace,  like  the  rest,  and  only  two  years  before 
the  St.  Bartholomew.  On  starting  from  Noyers  with  Coligny,  Conde  had 
addressed  to  the  king,  on  the  23d  of  August,  a  letter.  Convinced  that  he 
would  not  succeed  in  preserving  France  from  a  fresh  civil  war,  the  chancellor 
De  l’Hospital  made  up  his  mind  to  withdraw,  and  with  him  all  moderation' 
departed  from  the  councils  of  the  king. 

During  the  two  years  that  it  lasted,  from  August,  1568,  to  August,  1570, 
the  third  religious  war  under  Charles  IX.  entailed  two  important  battles  and 
many  deadly  faction-fights,  which  spread  and  inflamed  to  the  highest  pitch  the 
passions  of  the  two  parties.  Notwithstanding  their  defeat  at  Jarnac  and 
Moncontour  (1 569),  notwithstanding  the  death  of  Conde  and  the  wound  of 
Coligny,  the  Protestants  were  still  able  to  obtain  from  their  enemies  a 
favorable  peace.  *  The  negotiations  were  short.  The  war  had  been  going  on 
for  two  years.  The  two  parties,  victorious  and  vanquished  by  turns,  were 
both  equally  sick  of  it.  Peace  was  concluded  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye  on  the 
8th  of  August,  1570,  and  it  was  more  equitable  and  better  for  the  reformers 
than  the  preceding  treaties.  All  the  members  of  the  parliament,  all  the  royal 
and  municipal  officers  and  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  towns  where  the 
two  religions  existed  were  further  bound  over  on  oath  “  to  maintenance  of  the 
edict.” 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


H72] 


1 1 3 


Peace  was  made ;  but  it  was  the  third  in  seven  years,  and  very  shortly 
after  each  new  treaty  civil  war  had  recommenced.  No  more  was  expected 
from  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye  than  had  been  effected  by  those  of 
Amboise  and  Longjumeau,  and  on  both  sides  men  sighed  for  something  more 
stable  and  definitive. 

There  had  already,  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  previously,  been  some  talk 
about  a  marriage  between  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Marguerite  de  Valois,  each 
born  in  1553.  This  union  between  the  two  branches  of  the  royal  house,  one 
Catholic  and  the  other  Protestant,  ought  to  have  been  the  most  striking  sign 
and  the  surest  pledge  of  peace  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism. 
Charles  IX.  embraced  the  idea  passionately,  being  the  only  means,  he  said,  of 
putting  a  stop  at  last  to  this  incessantly  renewed  civil  war,  which  was  the 
plague  of  his  life  as  well  as  of  his  kingdom.  He  readily  gave  way,  in 
Coligny’s  company,  to  outpourings  which  had  all  the  appearance  of  perfect 
and  involuntary  frankness ;  and  even  seemed  to  entertain  seriously  the  idea 
of  sending  an  army  to  the  relief  of  the  persecuted  Protestants  in  the 
Netherlands.  This  tone  of  freedom  and  confidence  had  inspired  Coligny 
with  reciprocal  confidence  ;  he  believed  himself  to  have  a  decisive  influence 
over  the  king’s  ideas  and  conduct. 

Without  giving  either  to  Catherine  de’  Medici  or  to  her  sons  the  honor 
of  either  so  long  a  course  of  dissimulation  or  of  so  cunningly  arranged  a 
stratagem,  it  is  not  unnatural  to  believe  that  while  conceding  the  advan¬ 
tageous  terms  of  the  peace  of  Saint-Germain,  they  looked  forward  ultimately 
to  something  like  the  horrible  tragedy  of  Saint  Bartholomew’s  day  ;  and  yet 
we  may  reasonably  question  even  if  the  massacre  would  have  taken  place, 
had  not  the  Catholics  dreaded  the  influence  which  Coligny  seemed  about  to 
assume  over  the  weak  mind  of  the  king.  Catherine  and  the  Duke  d’Anjou 
in  their  turn,  and  as  a  last  resource,  worked  upon  the  feelings  of  that 
wretched  monarch,  and  finally  led  him  to  sanction  the  massacre  of  the 
Protestants  just  as  easily  as  he  would  have  done  that  of  the  principal 
Catholic  leaders. 

On  Friday  the  22d  of  August,  1572,  Coligny  was  returning  on  foot  from 
the  Louvre  to  the  Rue  des  Fosses-St.-Germain-l’Auxerrois,  where  he  lived  ; 
he  was  occupied  in  reading  a  letter,  which  he  had  just  received  ;  a  shot,  fired 
from  the  window  of  a  house  in  the  cloister  of  St.  Germain-l’Auxerrois, 
smashed  two  fingers  of  his  right  hand  and  lodged  a  ball  in  his  left  arm  ;  he 
raised  his  eyes,  pointed  out  with  his  injured  hand  the  house  whence  the  shot 
had  come,  and  reached  his  quarters  on  foot.  Two  gentlemen  who  were  in 
attendance  upon  him  rushed  to  seize  the  murderer;  it  was  too  late. 

Coligny  sent  to  apprise  the  king  of  what  had  just  happened  to  him : 
“  There,”  said  he,  “  was  a  fine  proof  of  fidelity  to  the  agreement  between 
him  and  the  duke  of  Guise.”  “  I  shall  never  have  rest,  then  !  ”  cried  Charles, 
breaking  the  stick  with  which  he  was  playing  tennis  with  the  duke  of  Guise 
and  Teligny,  the  admiral’s  son-in-law  ;  and  he  immediately  returned  to  his 
8 


i  r4 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION.  [1572 

room.  The  duke  of  Guise  took  himself  off  without  a  word.  Teligny 
speedily  joined  his  father-in-law. 

About  2  P.M.  the  king,  the  queen-mother,  and  the  dukes  of  Anjou 
and  Alencon,  her  two  other  sons,  with  many  of  their  high  officers,  repaired  to 
the'  admiral’s.  “  My  dear  father,”  said  the  king  as  he  went  in,  “  the  hurt  is 
yours ;  the  grief  and  the  outrage  mine  ;  but  I  will  take  such  vengeance  that 
it  shall  never  be  forgotten,”  to  which  he  added  his  usual  imprecations. 

Saturday  passed  quietly.  On  Sunday,  August  24th,  between  two  and 
three  o’clock  in  the  morning,  Cosseins,  the  commander  of  the  king’s  guards, 
Besme,  a  servant  of  the  Duke  de  Guise,  and  several  others,  broke  open  the 
door  of  Coligny’s  house,  and  forced  their  way  into  his  bed-room,  where  Besme 
plunged  a  sword  into  his  bosom,  the  rest  dispatched  him  with  their  daggers, 
and  Besme  called  out  of  the  window  to  the  Duke  de  Guise,  who,  with  other 
Catholics,  was  waiting  in  the  court  below,  “  It  is  done.”  At  the  command  of 
the  duke,  the  body  was  then  thrown  out  of  the  window  to  him,  when,  having 
wiped  away  the  blood  to  see  his  features,  he  said,  “  It  is  he  himself,”  and 
then  gave  a  kick  to  “  that  venerable  face,  which  when  alive  was  dreadful  to  all 
the  murderers  of  France.”  Now  the  great  bell  of  the  palace,  and  the  bell  of 
Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois  were  answered  by  the  bells  of  all  the  churches,  the 
Swiss  guards  were  under  arms,  and  the  city  militia  poured  through  the  streets. 
Once  let  loose,  the  Parisian  populace  was  eager  indeed,  but  not  alone  in  its 
eagerness,  for  the  work  of  massacre  ;  the  gentlemen  of  the  court  took  part  in 
it  passionately,  from  a  spirit  of  vengeance,  from  religious  hatred,  from  the 
effect  of  smelling  blood,  from  covetousness  at  the  prospect  of  confiscations  at 
hand.  Teligny,  the  admiral’s  son-in-law,  had  taken  refuge  on  a  roof ;  the 
duke  of  Anjou’s  guards  made  him  a  mark  for  their  arquebuses.  La 
Rochefoucauld,  with  whom  the  king  had  been  laughing  and  joking  up  to 
eleven  o’clock  the  evening  before,  heard  a  knocking  at  his  door,  in  the  king’s 
name ;  it  is  opened ;  enter  six  men  in  masks  and  poniard  him.  The  new 
queen  of  Navarre,  Marguerite  de  Valois,  had  gone  to  bed  by  express  order  of 
her  mother  Catherine:  “Just  as  I  was  asleep,”  says  she,  “behold  a  man 
knocking  with  feet  and  hands  at  the  door  and  shouting,  ‘  Navarre  !  Navarre !  ’ 
My  nurse,  thinking  it  was  the  king  my  husband,  runs  quickly  to  the  door  and 
opens  it.  It  was  a  gentleman  named  M.  de  Leran,  who  had  a  sword-cut  on 
the  elbow,  a  gash  from  a  halberd  on  the  arm,  and  was  still  pursued  by  four 
archers,  who  all  came  after  him  into  my  bed-room.  We  both  screamed,  and 
each  of  us  was  as  much  frightened  as  the  other.  At  last  it  pleased  God  that 
M.  de  Nancy,  captain  of  the  guards,  came  in,  who,  finding  me  in  this  plight, 
though  he  felt  compassion,  could  not  help  laughing  ;  and,  flying  into  a  great 
rage  with  the  archers  for  this  indiscretion,  he  made  them  begone  and  gave  me 
the  life  of  that  poor  man,  who  had  hold  of  me,  whom  I  had  put  to  bed  and 
attended  to  in  my  closet,  until  he  was  well.” 

When  he  had  plunged  into  the  orgies  of  the  massacre,  when,  after 
having  said  “  Kill  them  all !  ”  he  had  seen  the  slaughter  of  his  companions  in 
his  royal  amusements,  Teligny  and  La  Rochefoucauld,  Charles  IX.  abandoned 


The  Head  of  Coligny 
Page  114. 


1573] 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


H5 


himself  to  a  fit  of  mad  passion.  He  was  asked  whether  the  two  young 
Huguenot  princes,  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Henry  de  Conde,  were  to  be  killed 
also;  Marshal  de  Retx  had  been  in  favor  of  it;  Marshal  de  Tavannes  had 
been  opposed  to  it ;  and  it  was  decided  to  spare  them. 

The  historians,  Catholic  or  Protestant,  contemporary  or  researchful,  differ 
widely  as  to  the  number  of  the  victims  in  this  cruel  massacre ;  according  to 
De  Thou,  there  were  about  two  thousand  persons  killed  in  Paris  the  first  day ; 
D’Aubigne  says  three  thousand  ;  Brantome  speaks  of  four  thousand  bodies 
that  Charles  IX.  might  have  seen  floating  down  the  Seine;  La  Popeliniere 
reduces  them  to  one  thousand.  The  uncertainty  is  still  greater  when  one 
comes  to  speak  of  the  number  of  victims  throughout  the  whole  of  France: 
De  Thou  estimates  it  at  thirty  thousand,  Sully  at  seventy  thousand,  Perefixe, 
archbishop  of  Paris  in  the  seventeenth  century,  raises  it  to  one  hundred 
thousand ;  Papirius  Masson  and  Davila  reduce  it  to  ten  thousand,  without 
clearly  distinguishing  between  the  massacre  of  Paris  and  those  of  the  prov¬ 
inces  ;  other  historians  fix  upon  forty  thousand.  One  thing  which  is  quite 
true  and  which  it  is  good  to  call  to  mind  in  the  midst  of  so  great  a  general 
criminality  is  that,  at  many  spots  in  France,  it  met  with  a  refusal  to  be  associ¬ 
ated  in  it;  President  Jeannin  at  Dijon,  the  Count  de  Tende  in  Provence, 
Philibert  de  la  Guiche  at  Macon,  Tanneguy  le  Veneur  de  Carrouge  at  Rouen, 
the  Count  de  Gordes  in  Dauphiny,  and  many  other  chiefs,  military  or  civil, 
openly  repudiated  the  example  set  by  the  murderers  of  Paris;  and  the 
municipal  body  of  Nantes,  a  very  Catholic  town,  took  upon  this  subject  a 
resolution  which  does  honor  to  its  patriotic  firmness  as  well  as  to  its  Christian 
loyalty. 

A  great,  good  man,  a  great  functionary  and  a  great  scholar,  in  disgrace 
for  six  years  past,  the  chancellor  Michael  de  l’Hospital,  gave  in  his  resignation 
on  the  1st  of  February,  1573,  and  died  six  weeks  afterward,  on  the  18th  of 
March. 

All  this  policy,  at  one  and  the  same  time  violent  and  timorous,  incoherent 
and  stubborn,  produced  among  the  Protestants  two  contrary  effects :  some 
grew  frightened,  others  angry.  At  court,  under  the  direct  influence  of  the 
king  and  his  surroundings,  “  submission  to  the  powers  that  be  ”  prevailed  ; 
many  fled;  others  without  abjuring  their  religion,  abjured  their  party.  The 
two  reformer-princes,  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Henry  de  Conde,  attended  mass 
on  the  29th  of  September,  and,  on  the  3d  of  October,  wrote  to  the  pope 
deploring  their  errors  and  giving  hopes  of  their  conversion.  Far  away  from 
Paris,  in  the  mountains  of  the  Pyrenees  and  of  Languedoc,  in  the  towns 
where  the  reformers  were  numerous  and  confident,  at  Sancerre,  at  Montauban, 
at  Nimes,  at  La  Rochelle,  the  spirit  of  resistance  carried  the  day.  In  Novem¬ 
ber,  1572,  the  fourth  religious  war  broke  out. 

The  siege  of  La  Rochelle  was  its  only  important  event.  Charles  IX. 
and  his  councillors  exerted  themselves  in  vain  to  avoid  it.  There  was  every¬ 
thing  to  disquiet  them  in  this  enterprise:  so  sudden  a  revival  of  the  religious 
war  after  the  grand  blow  they  had  just  struck,  the  passionate  energy 


\i6 


FRANCE. — THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


[1573 


manifested  by  the  Protestants  in  asylum  at  La  Rochelle,  and  the  help  they 
had  been  led  to  hope  for  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  whom  England  would  never 
have  forgiven  for  indifference  in  this  cause. 

The  siege  lasted  from  the  26th  of  February  to  the  13th  of  June,  1573; 
six  assaults  were  made  on  the  place  ;  in  the  last,  the  ladders  had  been  set  at 
night  against  the  wall  of  what  was  called  Gospel  bastion ;  the  duke  of  Guise, 
at  the  head  of  the  assailants,  had  escaladed  the  breach,  but  there  he  discov¬ 
ered  a  new  ditch  and  a  new  rampart  erected  inside ;  and,  confronted  by  these 
unforeseen  obstacles,  the  men  recoiled  and  fell  back.  La  Rochelle  was  saved. 
Charles  IX.  was  more  and  more  desirous  of  peace;  his  brother,  the  duke  of 
Anjou,  had  just  been  elected  king  of  Poland;  Charles  IX.  was  anxious 
for  him  to  leave  France,  and  go  to  take  possession  of  his  new  kingdom. 
Thanks  to  these  complications,  the  peace  of  La  Rochelle  was  signed  on  the 
oth  day  of  July,  1573.  Liberty  of  creed  and  worship  was  recognized  in  the 
three  towns  of  La  Rochelle,  Montauban  and  Nimes.  They  were  not  obliged 
to  receive  any  royal  garrison,  on  condition  of  giving  hostages  to  be  kept  by 
the  king  for  two  years. 

Certainly  this  was  not  what  the  king  had  calculated  upon  when  he  con¬ 
sented  to  the  massacre  of  the  Protestants :  “  Provided,"  he  had  said,  “  that 
not  a  single  one  is  left  to  reproach  me."  In  the  spring  of  1574,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  years  and  eleven  months,  and  after  a  reign  of  eleven  years  and 
six  months,  Charles  IX.  was  attacked  by  an  inflammatory  malady,  which 
brought  on  violent  hemorrhage ;  he  was  revisited,  in  his  troubled  sleep,  by 
the  same  bloody  visions  about  which,  a  few  days  after  the  St.  Bartholomew, 
he  had  spoken  to  his  physician,  Ambrose  Pare.  He  no  longer  retained  in  his 
room  anybody  but  two  of  his  servants  and  his  nurse,  “  of  whom  he  was  very 
fond,  although  she  was  a  Huguenot,"  says  the  contemporary  chronicler  Peter  de 
l’Estoile.  “  When  she  had  lain  down  upon  a  chest  and  was  just  beginning  to 
doze,  hearing  the  king  moaning,  weeping  and  sighing,  she  went  full  gently  up 
to  the  bed:  ‘  Ah!  nurse,  nurse,’  said  the  king,  ‘what  bloodshed  and  what  mur¬ 
ders  !  Ah !  what  evil  counsel  have  I  followed !  Oh !  my  God,  forgive  me 
them  and  have  mercy  upon  me,  if  it  may  please  Thee !  I  know  not  what  hath 
come  to  me,  so  bewildered  and  agitated  do  they  make  me.  What  will  be 
the  end  of  it  all?  What  shall  I  do?  I  am  lost;  I  see  it  well.’  Then  said  the 
nurse  to  him :  ‘  Sir,  the  murders  be  on  the  heads  of  those  who  made  you  do 

them  !  But,  for  God’s  sake,  let  your  Majesty  cease  weeping  !  ’  And  thereupon, 
having  been  to  fetch  him  a  pocket-handkerchief  because  his  own  was  soaked 
with  tears,  after  that  the  king  had  taken  it  from  her  hand,  he  signed  to  her  to 
go  away  and  leave  him  to  his  rest." 

On  Sunday,  May  30th,  1574?  Whitsunday,  about  three  in  the  afternoon, 
Charles  IX.  expired,  after  having  signed  an  ordinance  conferring  the  regency 
upon  his  mother  Catherine,  “who  accepted  it,"  was  the  expression  in  the  let¬ 
ters  patent,  “at  the  request  of  the  duke  of  Alencon,  the  king  of  Navarre,  and 
other  princes  and  peers  of  France." 

Though  elected  king  of  Poland  on  the  9th  of  May,  1573,  Henry,  duke  of 


Charles  IX.  and  Catherine  de  Medici,  the  morning  after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 

A.  de  Xeuville.  Page  116. 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


n  7 


1575] 

Anjou,  had  not  yet  left  Paris  at  the  end  of  the  summer.  Having  arrived  in 
Poland  on  the  25th  of  January,  1574,  and  being  crowned  at  Cracow  on  the 
24th  of  February,  Henry  had  been  scarcely  four  months  king  of  Poland  when 
he  was  apprised,  about  the  middle  of  June,  that  his  brother  Charles  had  lately 
died,  on  the  30th  of  May,  and  that  he  was  king  of  France.  “  Do  not  waste 
your  time  in  deliberating,”  said  his  French  advisers:  “  you  must  go  and  take 
possession  of  the  throne  of  France  without  abdicating  that  of  Poland;  go  at 
once  and  without  fuss.”  Henry  followed  this  counsel.  Having  started  from 
Cracow  on  the  18th  of  June,  1574,  he  did  not  arrive  until  the  5th  of  Septem¬ 
ber  at  Lyons. 

It  was  in  a  condition  of  disorganization  and  red-hot  anarchy  that  Henry 
III.  on  his  return  from  Poland,  and  after  the  St.  Bartholomew,  found  France; 
it  was  in  the  face  of  all  these  forces,  full  of  life,  but  scattered  and  excited  one 
against  another,  that,  with  the  aid  of  his  mother  Catherine,  he  had  to  re¬ 
establish  unity  in  the  State,  the  efficiency  of  the  government  and  the  public 
peace. 

Henry  and  Catherine  aspired  to  no  more  than  resuming  their  policy  of 
maneuvering  and  wavering  between  the  two  parties  engaged  in  the  struggle ; 
but  it  was  not  for  so  poor  a  result  that  the  ardent  Catholics  had  committed 
the  crime  of  the  St.  Bartholomew;  they  promised  themselves  from  it  the 
decisive  victory  of  their  Church  and  of  their  supremacy.  Henry  de  Guise 
came  forward  as  their  leader  in  this  grand  design.  When,  in  1575,  first  the 
duke  of  Anjou  and  after  him  the  king  of  Navarre  were  seen  flying  from  the 
court  of  Henry  III.  and  commencing  an  insurrection  with  the  aid  of  a  consid¬ 
erable  body  of  German  auxiliaries  and  French  refugees  already  on  French 
soil  and  on  their  way  across  Champagne,  the  peril  of  the  Catholic  Church 
appeared  so  grave  and  so  urgent  that,  in  the  threatened  provinces,  the 
Catholics  devoted  themselves  with  ardor  to  the  formation  of  a  grand 
association  for  the  defense  of  their  cause.  Then  and  thus  was  really  born 
the  League ,  secret  at  first,  but,  before  long,  publicly  and  openly  proclaimed, 
which  held  so  important  a  place  in  the  history  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Henry  de  Guise  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  the  league  and  labor  to  propagate 
it;  he  did  what  was  far  more  effectual  for  its  success:  he  entered  the  field  and 
gained  a  victory.  The  German  allies  and  French  refugees,  who  had  come  to 
support  Prince  Henry  de  Conde  and  the  duke  of  Anjou  in  their  insurrection, 
advanced  into  Champagne.  Guise  had  nothing  ready,  neither  army  nor 
money ;  he  mustered  in  haste  three  thousand  horse  who  were  to  be  followed 
by  a  body  of  foot  and  a  moiety  of  the  king’s  guards.  He  set  out  in  pursuit 
of  the  Germans,  came  up  with  them  on  the  10th  of  October,  1575,  at  Port-a- 
Binson,  on  the  Marne,  and  ordered  them  to  be  attacked  by  his  brother,  the 
duke  of  Mayenne,  whom  he  supported  vigorously.  They  were  broken  and 
routed.  He  had  himself  been  wounded :  he  went  in  obstinate  pursuit  of  a 
mounted  foe  whom  he  had  twice  touched  with  his  sword,  and  who,  in  return, 
had  fired  two  pistol-shots,  of  which  one  took  effect  in  the  leg,  and  the  other 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


i  iS 


[1576 


carried  away  part  of  his  cheek  and  his  left  ear.  Thence  came  his  name  of 
Henry  the  Scarred  (Je  Balafre)  which  has  clung  to  him  in  history. 

Admiral  Coligny  was  succeeded  by  the  king  of  Navarre,  who  was 
destined  to  become  Henry  IV. ;  and  Duke  Francis  of  Guise  by  his  son  Henry, 
if  not  as  able,  at  any  rate  as  brave  a  soldier,  and  a  more  determined  Catholic 
than  he.  Among  the  Protestants,  Sully  and  Du  Plessis-Mornay  were 
assuming  shape  and  importance  by  the  side  of  the  king  of  Navarre. 

This  state  of  things  continued  for  twelve  years,  from  1576  to  1588,  with 
constant  alternations  of  war,  truce,  and  precarious  peace,  and  in  the  midst  of 
constant  hesitation  on  the  part  of  Henry  III.,  between  alliance  with  the 
league,  commanded  by  the  duke  of  Guise,  and  adjustment  with  the  Protest¬ 
ants,  of  whom  the  king  of  Navarre  was  every  day  becoming  the  more  and 
more  avowed  leader.  Between  1576  and  1580,  four  treaties  of  peace  were 
concluded:  in  1576,  the  peace  called  Monsieur  s,  signed  at  Chastenay  in 
Orleanness ;  in  1577,  the  peace  of  Bergerac  or  of  Poitiers;  in  1579,  the 
peace  of  Nerac;  in  1580,  the  peace  of  Fleix  in  Perigord.  In  November, 
1576,  the  States-general  were  convoked  and  assembled  at  Blois,  where  they  sat 
and  deliberated  up  to  March,  1577,  without  any  important  result.  At  heart, 
neither  Protestants  nor  Catholics  were  for  accepting  mutual  liberty;  not  only 
did  they  both  consider  themselves  in  possession  of  all  religious  truth,  but  they 
also  considered  themselves  entitled  to  impose  it  by  force  upon  their  adversa¬ 
ries. 

From  1576  to  1588,  Henry  III.  had  seen  the  difficulties  of  his  govern¬ 
ment  continuing  and  increasing.  On  the  10th  of  June  in  that  year,  Henry 
III.  s  brother,  the  duke  of  Anjou,  died  at  Chateau-Thierry.  By  this  death, 
the  leader  of  the  Protestants,  Henry,  king  of  Navarre,  became  lawful  heir  to 
the  throne  of  France.  The  Leaguers  could  not  stomach  that  prospect.  The 
Guises  turned  it  to  formidable  account.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  make  the 
future  of  France  a  subject  of  negotiation  with  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  at  that 
time  her  most  dangerous  enemy  in  Europe.  By  a  secret  convention  conclud¬ 
ed  at  Joinville,  on  the  31st  of  December,  1584,  between  Philip  and  the  Guises, 
it  was  stipulated  that  at  the  death  of  Henry  III.  the  crown  should  pass  to 
Charles,  cardinal  of  Bourbon,  sixty-four  years  of  age,  the  king  of  Navarre’s 
uncle,  who,  in  order  to  make  himself  king,  undertook  to  set  aside  his 
nephew’s  hereditary  right  and  forbid,  absolutely,  heretical  worship  in  France. 
On  the  7th  of  July,  1585,  a  treaty  was  concluded  at  Nemours  between  Henry 
III.  and  the  league,  to  the  effect  “that  by  an  irrevocable  edict  the  practice  of 
the  new  religion  should  be  forbidden,  and  that  there  should  henceforth  be  no 
other  practice  of  religion,  throughout  the  realm  of  France,  save  that  of  the 
Catholic,  Apostolic  and  Roman;  that  all  the  ministers  should  depart  from  the 
kingdom  within  a  month.” 

This  treaty  was  signed  by  all  the  negotiators,  and  specially  by  the  queen- 
mother,  the  cardinals  of  Bourbon  and  Guise,  and  the  dukes  of  Guise  and 
Mayenne.  It  was  the  decisive  act  which  made  the  war  a  war  of  religion. 

Before  taking  part  in  the  war  which  was  day  by  day  becoming  more  and 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


1586] 


1 19 


more  clearly  and  explicitly  a  war  of  religion,  the  Protestant  princes  of  Ger¬ 
many  and  the  four  great  free  cities  of  Strasbourg,  Ulm,  Nuremberg  and 
Frankfort  resolved  to  make,  as  the  king  of  Navarre  had  made,  a  striking 
move  on  behalf  of  peace  and  religious  liberty.  They  sent  to  Henry  III. 
ambassadors  who,  on  the  nth  of  October,  1586,  treated  him  to  some  frank 
and  bold  speaking,  but  obtained  no  satisfactory  answer. 

Except  some  local  and  short-lived  truces,  war  was  already  blazing 
throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  France,  in  Provence,  in  Dauphiny,  in  Niver- 
nais,  in  Guienne,  in  Anjou,  in  Normandy,  in  Picardy,  in  Champagne.  The 
successes  of  Henry  de  Guise  (Vimory,  October  28th;  Auneau,  November 
24th),  and  of  Henry  de  Bourbon  (Coutras,  October  20th),  were  almost  equal¬ 
ly  disagreeable  to  Henry  de  Valois.  He  considered  the  Protestants  less 
powerful  and  less  formidable  than  the  Leaguers.  Henry  de  Guise,  on  the 
contrary,  was  evidently,  in  his  eyes,  an  ambitious  conspirator,  determined  to 
push  his  own  fortunes  on  to  the  very  crown  of  France.  Since  1584,  the 
Leaguers  had,  at  Paris,  acquired  strong  organization  among  the  populace ; 
the  city  had  been  partitioned  out  into  five  districts  under  five  heads,  who, 
shortly  afterward,  added  to  themselves  eleven  others,  in  order  that,  in  the 
secret  council  of  the  association,  each  among  the  sixteen  quarters  of  Paris 
might  have  its  representative  and  director.  Thence  the  famous  Committee 
of  Sixteen ,  which  played  so  great  and  so  formidable  a  part  in  the  history  of 
that  period. 

In  vain  did  Henry  III.  attempt  to  resume  some  sort  of  authority  in 
Paris  ;  his  government,  his  public  and  private  life,  and  his  person  were  daily 
attacked,  insulted,  and  menaced  from  the  elevation  of  the  pulpit  and  in  the 
public  thoroughfares  by  qualified  preachers  or  mob-orators.  The  Duke  de 
Guise,  whose  courage  rendered  him  the  favorite  of  the  people,  became  more 
and  more  insolent.  In  defiance  of  a  royal  order  he  marched  into  Paris,  and 
at  the  head  of  four  hundred  gentilshommes  set  the  king  at  defiance  in  the 
apartments  of  the  Louvre.  Barricades  were  raised  throughout  Paris,  and  the 
Swiss  guards  whom  the  king  had  summoned,  disarmed  by  the  populace,  would 
have  been  slaughtered  but  for  the  interposition  of  Guise  himself.  At  that 
supreme  moment  the  duke  hesitated  and  recoiled  before  the  final  step  of 
attacking  the  Louvre.  This  wavering  saved  the  king;  for  Catherine 
de’  Medicis  had  time  to  amuse  her  rival  by  feigned  propositions  of  reconcilia¬ 
tion,  and  in  the  mean  while  Henry  III.  could  retire  to  Chartres.  There  the 
imbecile  monarch,  forsaken  by  every  one,  was  compelled  to  approve  all  that 
had  been  done  against  himself ;  he  gave  to  the  Duke  de  Guise  several 
powerful  towns,  and  named  him  generalissimo  of  the  French  forces;  finally 
he  convoked  the  States-general  at  Blois.  Guise  was  not  satisfied  yet,  and  he 
insulted  his  king  so  repeatedly  that  he  drove  the  most  timid  of  men  to  the 
boldest  of  all  resolutions — that  of  murdering  him. 

On  the  evening  of  Thursday,  December  the  22d,  the  duke  of  Guise,  on 
sitting  down  at  table,  found  under  his  napkin  a  note  to  this  effect:  “The 
king  means  to  kill  you.”  Guise  asked  for  a  pen,  wrote  at  the  bottom  of  the 


120 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


[1589 


note,  “  He  dare  not,”  and  threw  it  under  the  table.  In  spite  of  this  warning, 
he  persisted  in  going,  on  the  next  day,  to  the  council-chamber.  He  crossed 
the  king’s  chamber  contiguous  to  the  council-hall,  courteously  saluted,  as  he 
passed,  Loignac  and  his  comrades  whom  he  found  drawn  up,  and  who, 
returning  him  a  frigid  obeisance,  followed  him  as  if  to  show  him  respect.  On 
arriving  at  the  door  of  the  old  cabinet,  and  just  as  he  leaned  down  to  raise 
the  tapestry  that  covered  it,  Guise  was  struck  by  five  poniard  blows  in  the 
chest,  neck,  and  reins  :  “  God  ha’  mercy !  ”  he  cried,  and,  though  his  sword 
was  entangled  in  his  cloak  and  he  was  himself  pinned  by  the  arms  and  legs 
and  choked  by  the  blood  that  spurted  from  his  throat,  he  dragged  his 
murderers,  by  a  supreme  effort  of  energy,  to  the  other  end  of  the  room, 
where  he  fell  down  backwards  and  lifeless  before  the  bed  of  Henry  III.  who, 
coming  to  the  door  of  his  room  and  asking  “if  it  was  done,”  contemplated 
with  mingled  satisfaction  and  terror  the  inanimate  body  of  his  mighty  rival, 
“  who  seemed  to  be  merely  sleeping,  so  little  was  he  changed.”  “  My  God  ! 
how  tall  he  is!”  cried  the  king;  “he  looks  even  taller  than  when  he  was 
alive.” 

Thirteen  days  after  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  on  the  5th  of 
January,  1589,  Catherine  de’  Medici  herself  died.  Nor  was  her  death,  so  far 
as  affairs  and  the  public  were  concerned,  an  event.  Time  has  restored 
Catherine  de’  Medici  to  her  proper  place  in  history ;  she  was  quickly  forgotten 
by  her  contemporaries. 

It  was  not  long  before  Henry  III.  perceived  that,  to  be  king,  it  was  not 
sufficient  to  have  murdered  his  rival.  He  survived  the  duke  of  Guise  only 
seven  months,  and,  during  that  short  period,  he  was  not  really  king,  all  by 
himself,  for  a  single  day ;  never  had  his  kingship  been  so  embarrassed  and 
impotent ;  the  violent  death  of  the  duke  of  Guise  had  exasperated  much 
more  than  enfeebled  the  league ;  the  feeling  against  his  murderer  was 
passionate  and  contagious.  The  majority  of  the  great  towns  of  France,  Paris, 
Rouen,  Orleans,  Toulouse,  Lyons,  Amiens,  and  whole  provinces  declared 
eagerly  against  the  royal  murderer.  He  demanded  support  from  the  States- 
general,  who  refused  it ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  dismiss  them.  The  parliament 
of  Paris,  dismembered  on  the  16th  of  January,  1589,  by  the  Council  of 
Sixteen,  became  the  instrument  of  the  leaguers.  The  Sorbonne,  consulted 
by  a  petition  presented  in  the  name  of  all  Catholics,  decided  that  Frenchmen 
were  released  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  Henry  III.,  and  might  with  a 
good  conscience  turn  their  arms  against  him. 

There  was  clearly  for  him  but  one  possible  ally  who  had  a  chance  of 
doing  effectual  service,  and  that  was  Henry  of  Navarre  and  the  Protestants. 
It  cost  Henry  III.  a  great  deal  to  have  recourse  to  that  party  ;  his  conscience 
and  pusillanimity  both  revolted  at  it  equally.  In  spite  of  his  moral  corruption, 
he  was  a  sincere  Catholic,  and  the  prospect  of  excommunication  troubled  him 
deeply.  However,  on  the  3d  of  April,  1589,  a  truce  for  a  year  was  concluded 
between  the  two  kings.  This  negotiation  was  not  concluded  without 
difficulty,  especially  as  regarded  the  town  of  Saumur;  there  was  a  general 


Murder  of  Henri  de  Guise  by  order  of  Henry  III.  in  the  King’s  bedchamber  of  the  Louvre. 

Paul  Delaroche.  Page  120. 


FRANCE.— THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION. 


122 


1589] 

desire  to  cede  to  the  king  of  Navarre  only  some  place  of  less  importance  on 
the  Loire;  and  when,  on  the  15th  of  April,  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  who  had  been 
appointed  governor  of  it,  presented  himself  for  admittance  at  the  head  of  his 
garrison,  the  royalist  commandant  who  had  to  deliver  the  keys  to  him  limited 
himself  to  lettfng  them  drop  at  his  feet.  Mornay  showed  alacrity  in  picking 
them  up. 

On  arriving  before  Paris  toward  the  end  of  July,  1589,  the  two  kings 
besieged  it  with  an  army  of  forty-two  thousand  men,  the  strongest  and  the 
best  they  had  ever  had  under  their  orders.  “The  affairs  of  Henry  III.,”  says 
De  Thou,  “had  changed  face;  fortune  was  pronouncing  for  him.”  “On 
Tuesday,  August  1st,  at  8  A.M.,  he  was  told,”  says  L’Estoile,  “that  a 
monk  desired  to  speak  with  him,  but  that  his  guards  made  a  difficulty  about 
letting  him  in.  ‘Let  him  in,’  said  the  king:  ‘if  he  is  refused,  it  will  be  said 
that  I  drive  monks  away  and  will  not  see  them.’  Incontinently  entered  the 
monk,  having  in  his  sleeve  a  knife  unsheathed.  He  made  a  profound 
reverence  to  the  king,  who  had  just  got  up  and  had  nothing  on  but  a  dressing- 
gown  about  his  shoulders,  and  presented  to  him  dispatches  from  Count  de 
Brienne,  saying  that  he  had  further  orders  to  tell  the  king  privately  something 
of  importance.  Then  the  king  ordered  those  who  were  present  to  retire,  and 
began  reading  the  letter  which  the  monk  had  brought,  asking  for  a  private 
audience  afterward  ;  the  monk,  seeing  the  king’s  attention  taken  up  with 
reading,  drew  his  knife  from  his  sleeve  and  drove  it  right  into  the  king’s  small 
gut,  below  the  navel,  so  home  that  he  left  the  knife  in  the  hole ;  the  which 
the  king  having  drawn  out  with  great  exertion  struck  the  monk  a  blow  with 
the  point  of  it  on  his  left  eyebrow,  crying,  ‘Ah!  wicked  monk  !  he  has  killed 
me ;  kill  him  !  ’  At  which  cry  running  quickly  up,  the  guards  and  others, 
such  as  happened  to  be  nearest,  massacred  this  assassin  of  a  Jacobin,  who,  as 
D’Aubigne  says,  stretched  out  his  two  arms  against  the  wall,  counterfeiting 
the  crucifix,  while  the  blows  were  dealt  him.  Having  been  dragged  out  dead 
from  the  king’s  chamber,  he  was  stripped  naked  to  the  waist,  covered  with  his 
gown  and  exposed  to  the  public.”  Henry  III.  expired  on  the  2d  of  August, 
1589,  between  two  and  three  in  the  morning.  The  first  persons  Henry  of 
Navarre  met  as  he  entered  the  Hotel  de  Retz  were  the  officers  of  the  Scottish 
guard,  who  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  saying :  “  Ah  !  sir,  you  are  now  our 

king  and  our  master.” 


IX. 


HEM  IT.— LOUIS  M„  RICHELIEU  A1  THE  GOURT. 


(1589-1593.) 


ENRY  IV.  perfectly  understood  and  steadily  took 
the  measure  of  the  situation  in  which  he  was  placed. 
He  set  his  thoughts  higher,  upon  the  general  and 
natural  interests  of  France  as  he  found  her  and  saw 
her.  They  resolved  themselves,  in  his  eyes,  into  the 
following  great  points  :  maintenance  of  the  hereditary 
rights  of  monarchy,  preponderance  of  Catholics  in 


fesyo  the  government,  peace  between  Catholics  and  Protestants, 
and  religious  liberty  for  Protestants.  With  him  these  points 
became  the  law  of  his  policy  and  his  kingly  duty,  as  well  as  the 
nation’s  right.  He  proclaimed  them  in  the  first  words  that  he 
addressed  to  the  lords  and  principal  personages  of  State  assembled 
around  him.  On  the  4th  of  August,  1589,  in  the  camp  at  St. 
Cloud,  the  majority  of  the  princes,  dukes,  lords,  and  gentlemen 
present  in  the  camp  expressed  their  full  adhesion  to  the  acces¬ 
sion  and  the  manifesto  of  the  king.  Two  notable  leaders,  the 
duke  of  Epernon  among  the  Catholics  and  the  duke  of  La  Tremoille  among 
the  Protestants,  refused  to  join  in  this  adhesion ;  the  former  saying  that  his 
conscience  would  not  permit  him  to  serve  a  heretic  king,  the  latter  alleging 
that  his  conscience  forbade  him  to  serve  a  prince  who  engaged  to  protect 
Catholic  idolatry.  Three  contemporaries,  Sully,  La  Force,  and  the  bastard 
of  Angouleme,  bear  witness  that  Henry  IV.  was  deserted  by  as  many 
Huguenots  as  Catholics.  The  French  royal  army  was  reduced,  it  is  said,  to 
one-half.  As  a  make-weight,  Sancy  prevailed  upon  the  Swiss,  to  the  number 
of  twelve  thousand,  and  two  thousand  German  auxiliaries,  not  only  to  continue 
in  the  service  of  the  new  king,  but  to  wait  six  months  for  their  pay,  as  he 
was  at  the  moment  unable  to  pay  them. 

There  was,  in  1589,  an  unlawful  pretender  to  the  throne  of  France;  and 
that  was  Cardinal  Charles  de  Bourbon,  younger  brother  of  Anthony  de 
Bourbon,  king  of  Navarre,  and  consequently  uncle  of  Henry  IV.,  sole 
representative  of  the  elder  branch.  Under  Henry  III.  the  cardinal  had 
thrown  in  his  lot  with  the  league  ;  and,  after  the  murder  of  Guise,  Henry 
III.  had,  by  way  of  precaution,  ordered  him  to  be  arrested  and  detained  him 


FRANCE.— REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


123 


1590] 

in  confinement  at  Chinon,  where  he  still  was  when  Henry  III.  was  in  his  turn 
murdered.  The  Leaguers  proclaimed  him  king  under  the  name  of  Charles  X. ; 
and,  eight  months  afterward,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1590,  the  parliament  of 
Paris  issued  a  decree  “  recognizing  Charles  X.  as  true  and  lawful  king  of 
France.”  A  few  weeks  before  his  death  he  had  written  to  his  nephew  Henry 
IV.  a  letter  in  which  he  recognized  him  as  his  sovereign. 

The  league  was  more  than  ever  dominant  in  Paris  ;  Henry  IV.  could  not 
think  of  entering  there.  He  was  closely  pressed  by  Mayenne,  who  boasted 
that  he  would  very  shortly  bring  him  into  Paris  bound  hand  and  foot. 
Already  windows  were  engaged  on  the  line  of  streets  through  which  the 
procession  was  to  pass.  He  awaited  the  attack  of  Mayenne  at  Arques  in 
Normandy,  where  with  three  thousand  men  alone  he  defeated  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand.  Strengthened  by  the  accession  of  a  number  of  gentilshommes , 
Henry  then  once  more  attacked  Paris,  and  pillaged  the  faubourg  Saint 
Germain. 

Henry  left  some  of  his  lieutenants  to  carry  on  the  war  in  the  environs  of 
Paris,  and  himself  repaired  on  the  21st  of  November  to  Tours,  where  the 
royalist  parliament,  the  exchequer-chamber,  the  court  of  taxation,  and  all  the 
magisterial  bodies  which  had  not  felt  inclined  to  submit  to  the  despotism  of 
the  league,  lost  no  time  in  rendering  him  homage,  as  the  head  and  the 
representative  of  the  national  and  the  lawful  cause.  He  reigned  and  ruled,  to 
real  purpose,  in  the  eight  principal  provinces ;  and  his  authority,  although 
disputed,  was  making  way  in  nearly  all  the  other  parts  of  the  kingdom.  He 
made  war,  not  like  a  conqueror,  but  like  a  king  who  wanted  to  meet  with 
acceptance  in  the  places  which  he  occupied  and  which  he  would  soon  have  to 
govern.  It  was  not  long  before  Henry  reaped  the  financial  fruits  of  his 
protective  equity;  at  the  close  of  1589  he  could  count  upon  a  regular  revenue 
of  more  than  two  millions  of  crowns,  very  insufficient,  no  doubt,  for  the  wants 
of  his  government,  but  much  beyond  the  official  resources  of  his  enemies. 
He  had  very  soon  taken  his  proper  rank  in  Europe. 

Unhappily  the  new  pope,  Gregory  XIV.,  elected  on  the  5th  of  December, 
1590,  was  humbly  devoted  to  the  Spanish  policy,  meekly  subservient  to 
Philip  II.;  that  is,  to  the  cause  of  religious  persecution  and  of  absolute 
power,  without  regard  for  anything  else.  The  relations  of  France  with 
the  Holy  See  at  once  felt  the  effects  of  this ;  Cardinal  Gaetani  received 
from  Rome  all  the  instructions  that  the  most  ardent  leaguers  could  desire ; 
and  he  gave  his  approval  to  a  resolution  of  the  Sorbonne  to  the  effect 
that  Henry  de  Bourbon,  heretic  and  relapsed,  was  forever  excluded  from 
the  crown,  whether  he  became  a  Catholic  or  not.  Henry  IV.  had  convoked 
the  States-general  at  Tours  for  the  month  of  March,  and  had  summoned 
to  that  city  the  archbishops  and  bishops  to  form  a  national  council,  and  to 
deliberate  as  to  the  means  of  restoring  the  king  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  legate  prohibited  this  council,  declaring,  beforehand, 
the  excommunication  and  deposition  of  any  bishops  who  should  be  present 
at  it.  In  view  of  such  passionate  hostility,  Henry  IV.,  a  stranger  to  any 


124 


FRANCE.— REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


[1590 

sort  of  illusion,  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  always  full  of  hope,  saw 
that  his  successes  at  Arques  were  insufficient  for  him,  and  that  if  he  were 
to  occupy  the  throne  in  peace,  he  must  win  more  victories.  . 

On  Wednesday,  the  14th  of  March,  1590,  the  two  armies  met  on 
the  plains  of  Ivry,  a  village  six  leagues  from  Evreux,  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Eure.  A  battle  ensued  in  which,  although  the  resources  of  modern 
warfare  were  brought  into  operation,  the  decisive  force  consisted*  as  of 
old,  in  the  cavalry.  It  appeared  as  if  Henry  IV.  must  succumb  to  the 
superior  force  of  the  enemy.  At  length  Henry  cried  out  that  those  who 
did  not  wish  to  fight  against  the  enemy  might  at  least  turn  and  see  him  die, 
and  immediately  plunged  into  the  thickest  of  the  battle.  Raising  one  mighty 
shout  to  God,  they  threw  themselves  upon  the  enemy,  following  their 
king,  whose  plume  was  now  their  banner.  The  cavalry  was  broken, 
scattered,  and  swept  from  the  field,  and  the  confused  manner  of  their 
retreat  so  puzzled  the  infantry  that  they  were  not  able  to  maintain  their 
ground;  the  German  and  French  were  cut  down;  the  Swiss  surrendered. 
It  was  a  complete  victory  for  Henry  IV. 

The  victory  of  Ivry  had  a  great  effect  in  France  and  in  Europe, 
though  not  immediately  and  as  regarding  the  actual  campaign  of  1590. 
The  victorious  king  moved  on  Paris,  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
little  towns  in  the  neighborhood  with  a  view  of  besieging  the  capital. 
The  investment  became  more  strict  ;  it  was  kept  up  for  more  than  three 
months,  from  the  end  of  May  to  the  beginning  of  September,  1590; 
and  the  city  was  reduced  to  a  severe  state  of  famine. 

In  the  mean  time  Duke  Alexander  of  Parma,  in  accordance  with 
express  orders  from  Philip  II.,  went  from  the  Low  Countries,  with  his 
army,  to  join  Mayenne  at  Meaux,  and  threaten  Henry  IV.  with  their 
united  forces  if  they  did  not  retire  from  the  walls  of  the  capital.  Henry  IV. 
offered  the  two  dukes  battle,  if  they  really  wished  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
investment.  Henry  in  vain  attempted  to  make  the  duke  of  Parma  accept 
battle.  The  able  Italian  established  himself  in  a  strongly  entrenched 
camp,  surprised  Lagny  and  opened  to  Paris  the  navigation  of  the  Marne, 
by  which  provisions  were  speedily  brought  up.  Henry  decided  upon  retreat¬ 
ing ;  he  dispersed  the  different  divisions  of  his  army  into  Touraine,  Normandy, 
Picardy,  Champagne,  Burgundy,  and  himself  took  up  his  quarters  at  Senlis, 
at  Compiegne,  in  the  towns  on  the  banks  of  the  Oise.  The  duke  of 
Mayenne  arrived  on  the  1 8th  of  September  at  Paris;  the  duke  of  Parma 
entered  it  himself  with  a  few  officers  and  left  it  on  the  13th  of  November, 
with  his  army  on  his  way  back  to  the  Low  Countries. 

Then  began  to  appear  the  consequences  of  the  victory  of  Ivry  and 
the  progress  made  by  Henry  IV.,  in  spite  of  the  check  he  received  before 
Paris  and  at  some  other  points  in  the  kingdom.  Not  only  did  many 
moderate  Catholics  make  advances  to  him,  struck  with  his  sympathetic 
ability  and  his  valor,  and  hoping  that  he  would  end  by  becoming  a 
Catholic,  but  patriotic  wrath  was  kindling  in  France  against  Philip  II. 


FRANCE.— REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


1 590 


125 


and  the  Spaniards,  those  fomenters  of  civil  war  in  the  mere  interest  of 
foreign  ambition. 

The  league  was  split  up  into  two  parties,  the  Spanish  League  and 
the  French  League.  The  committee  of  Sixteen  labored  incessantly  for  the 
formation  and  triumph  of  the  Spanish  League,  and  its  principal  leaders 
wrote,  on  the  2d  of  September,  1591,  a  letter  to  Philip  II.,  offering  him 
the  crown  of  France  and  pledging  their  allegiance  to  him  as  his  subjects. 
These  ringleaders  of  the  Spanish  League  had  for  their  army  the  blindly 
fanatical  and  demagogic  populace  of  Paris,  and  were,  further,  supported 
by  four  thousand  Spanish  troops  whom  Philip  II.  had  succeeded  in  getting 
almost  surreptitiously  into  Paris,  They  created  a  council  of  ten,  the  sixteenth, 
century’s  committee  of  public  safety ;  they  proscribed  the  policists ;  they., 
on  the  15th  of  November,  had  the  president,  Brisson,  and  two  coun¬ 
cillors  of  the  Leaguer  parliament  arrested,  hanged  them  to  a  beam,  and 
dragged  the  corpses  to  the  Place  de  Greve,  where  they  strung  them  up 
to  a  gibbet  with  inscriptions  setting  forth  that  they  were  heretics,  traitors  to 
the  city  and  enemies  to  the  Catholic  princes.  While  the  Spanish  League 

was  thus  reigning  at  Paris,  the  duke  of  Mayenne  was  at  Laon,  preparing  to 

lead  his  army,  consisting  partly  of  Spaniards,  to  the  relief  of  Rouen,,  the 

siege  of  which  Henry  IV.  was  commencing.  Being  summoned  to  Paris 

by  messengers  who  succeeded  one  another  every  hour,  he  arrived  there 
on  the  28th  of  November,  1591,  with  two  thousand  French  troops;  he 
armed  the  guard  of  burgesses,  seized  and  hanged,  in  a  ground-floor  room 
of  the  Louvre,  four  of  the  chief  leaders  of  the  Sixteen,  suppressed  their 
committee,  re-established  the  parliament  in  full  authority,  and,  finally, 
the  security  and  preponderance  of  the  French  League,  while  taking  the 
reins  once  more  into  his  own  hands. 

In  all  the  provinces,  throughout  all  ranks  of  society,  the  population 
non-enrolled  among  the  factions  were  turning  their  eyes  toward  Henry 
IV.  as  the  only  means  of  putting  an  ei:d  to  war  at  home  and  abroad, 
the  only  pledge  of  national  unity,  public  prosperity,  and  even  freedom  of 
trade,  a  hazy  idea  as  yet,  but  even  now  prevalent  in  the  great  ports 
of  France  and  in  Paris.  Would  Henry  turn  Catholic?  That  was  the 
question  asked  everywhere  among  Protestants  with  anxiety,  but  with  keen 
desire  and  not  without  hope  among  the  mass  of  the  population.  The 
rumor  ran  that,  on  this  point,  negotiations  were  half  opened  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  league  itself,  even  at  the  court  of  Spain,  even  at  Rome. 
Such  being  the  existing  state  of  facts  and  minds,  it  was  impossible  that 
Henry  IV.  should  not  ask  himself  roundly  the  same  question  and  feel 
that  he  had  no  time  to  lose  in  answering  it. 

In  spite  of  the  breadth  and  independence  of  his  mind,  Henry  IV. 
was  sincerely  puzzled.  There  is  no  measuring  accurately  how  far  ambi¬ 
tion,  personal  interest,  a  king’s  egotism  had  to  do  with  Henry  IV.’s 
abjuration  of  his  religion :  none  would  deny  that  those  human  infirmities 
were  present  ;  but  all  this  does  not  prevent  the  conviction  that  patriotism 


126 


FRANCE.— REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


[1593 

was  uppermost  in  Henry’s  soul,  and  that  the  idea  of  his  duty  as  king 
toward  France,  a  prey  to  all  the  evils  of  civil  and  foreign  war,  was  the 
determining  motive  of  his  resolution.  It  cost  him  a  great  deal.  On  the 
26th  of  April,  1 593?  he  wrote  to  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  Ferdinand 
de’  Medici,  that  he  had  decided  to  turn  Catholic.  On  the  28th  of  April 
he  begged  the  bishop  of  Chartres,  Nicholas  de  Thou,  to  be  one  of  the 
Catholic  prelates  whose  instructions  he  would  be  happy  to  receive  on  the 
15th  of  July,  and  he  sent  the  same  invitation  to  several  other  prelates. 
On  the  16th  of  May  he  declared  to  his  council  his  resolve  to  become 
a  convert.  This  news,  everywhere  spread  abroad,  produced  a  lively  burst 
vof  national  and  Bourbonic  feeling,  even  where  it  was  scarcely  to  be  expected. 

During  these  disputes  among  the  civil  functionaries  and  continuing 
^all  the  while  to  make  proposals  for  a  general  truce,  Henry  IV.  vigor¬ 
ously  resumed  warlike  operations  so  as  to  bring  pressure  upon  his  adver¬ 
saries  and  make  them  perceive  the  necessity  of  accepting  the  solution  he 
offered  them.  He  besieged  and  took  the  town  of  Dreux,  of  which  the 
castle  alone  persisted  in  holding  out.  He  cut  off  the  provisions  which 
were  being  brought  by  the  Marne  to  Paris.  He  kept  Poitiers  strictly 
invested.  Lesdiguieres  defeated  the  Savoyards  and  the  Spaniards  in  the 
valleys  of  Dauphiny  and  Piedmont.  Count  Mansfield  had  advanced  with 
a  division  toward  Picardy ;  but  at  the  news  that  the  king  was  marching 
to  encounter  him,  he  retired  with  precipitation.  The  castle  of  Dreux  was 
obliged  to  capitulate.  Thanks  to  the  four  thousand  Swiss  paid  for  him  by 
the  grand  duke  of  Florence,  to  the  numerous  volunteers  brought  to  him  by 
the  noblesse  of  his  party,  “  and  to  the  sterling  quality  of  the  old  Huguenot 
phalanx,  folks  who,  from  father  to  son,  are  familiarized  with  death,”  says 
D’Aubigne,  Henry  IV.  had  recovered  in  June,  1593,  so  good  an  army  that 
“  by  means  of  it,”  he  wrote  to  Ferdinand  de’  Medici,  “  I  shall  be  able  to 
reduce  the  city  of  Paris  in  so  short  a  time  as  will  cause  you  great  content¬ 
ment.”  He  entered  resolutely,  on  the  15th  of  July,  1593,  upon  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  the  moral  means  which  alone  could  enable  him  to  attain  this  end  ;  he 
assembled  at  Mantes  the  conference  of  prelates  and  doctors,  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  which  he  had  announced  as  the  preface  to  his  conversion. 

Ten  days  after,  on  Sunday,  the  25th  of  July,  1593,  he  repaired  in  great 
state  to  the  church  of  St.  Denis.  On  arriving  with  all  his  train  in  front  of 
the  grand  entrance,  he  was  received  by  Reginald  de  Beaune,  archbishop  of 
Bourges  “Who  are  you?”  asked  the  archbishop  who  officiated.  “The 
king.”  “What  want  you?”  To  be  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Cath¬ 
olic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman  Church.”  “Do  you  desire  it?”  “Yes,  I  will 
and  desire  it.”’  At  these  words  the  king  knelt  and  made  the  stipulated 
profession  of  faith.  The  archbishop  gave  him  absolution  together  with 
benediction  ;  and,  conducted  by  all  the  clergy  to  the  choir  of  the  church, 
he  there,  upon  the  gospels,  repeated  his  oath,  made  his  confession,  heard 
mass,  and  was  fully  reconciled  with  the  Church.  The  vaulted  roof  of  the 
church  resounded  with  their  shouts  of  Hurrah  for  the  king!  There  was 


1594] 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


127 


the  same  welcome  on  the  part  of  the  dwellers  in  the  country  when  Henry 
repaired  to  the  valley  of  Montmorency  and  to  Montmartre  to  perform 
his  devotions  there. 

On  one  side  a  great  majority  of  Catholics  and  Protestants  favorable 
for  different  practical  reasons  to  Henry  IV.  turned  Catholic  king;  on 

the  other,  two  minorities,  one  of  stubborn  Catholics  of  the  league,  the 
other  of  Protestants  anxious  for  their  creed  and  their  liberty ;  both 

discontented  and  distrustful.  This  triple  fact  was  constantly  present  to 
the  mind  of  Henry  IV.  and  ruled  his  conduct  during  all  his  reign;  all 
the  acts  of  his  government  are  proof  of  that.  It  was  province  by 

province,  inch  by  inch  that  he  had  to  recover  his  kingdom.  At  Lyons, 
the  success  of  the  king  was  easy  and  disinterested  ;  not  so  in  Normandy. 
Andrew  de  Brancas,  lord  of  Villars,  an  able  man  and  valiant  soldier, 

was  its  governor;  he  had  served  the  league  with  zeal  and  determination; 
nevertheless  thinking,  however,  that  every  man  has  his  price,  he  determined 
to  get  out  of  Henry  IV.  as  much  as  he  could,  and  the  following 
memorandum  shows  how  far  he  was  successful: — “To  M.  Villars,  for  himself, 
his  brother  Chevalier  d’Oise,  the  towns  of  Rouen  and  Havre  and  other 
places,  as  well  as  for  compensation  which  had  to  be  made  to  MM.  de 
Montpensier,  Marshal  de  Biron,  Chancellor  de  Chiverny,  and  other  persons 
included  in  his  treaty  ....  3,447,800  livres.” 

Nicholas  de  Neufville,  lord  of  Villeroi,  after  having  served  Charles 
IX.  and  Henry  III.,  had  become  through  attachment  to  the  Catholic 
cause  a  member  of  the  league  and  one  of  the  duke  of  Mayenne’s 
confidants.  When  Henry  IV.  was  king  of  France  and  Catholic  king, 
Villeroi  tried  to  serve  his  cause  with  Mayenne,  and  induce  Mayenne  to 
be  reconciled  with  him.  Meeting  with  no  success,  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  separate  from  the  league,  and  go  over  to  the  king’s  service.  He 
could  do  so  without  treachery  or  shame ;  even  as  a  leaguer  and  a  servant 
of  Mayenne’s,  he  had  always  been  opposed  to  Spain,  and  devoted  to  a 
French,  but  at  the  same  time  a  faithfully  Catholic  policy.  He  imported 
into  the  service  of  Henry  IV.  the  same  sentiments  and  the  same  bearing;  he 
was  still  a  zealous  Catholic  and  a  partisan,  for  king  and  country’s  sake, 
of  alliance  with  Catholic  powers.  Henry  IV.  saw  at  once  the  advantage 
to  be  gained  from  him,  and  made  him,  on  the  25th  of  September,  1594, 
Secretary  of  State  for  foreign  affairs.  This  acquisition  did  not  cost  him 
so  dear  as  that  of  Villars:  still  we  read  in  the  statement  of  sums  paid 
by  Henry  IV.  for  this  sort  of  conquest: — “Furthermore,  to  M.  de  Villeroi, 
for  himself,  his  son,  the  town  of  Pontoise,  and  other  individuals  according  to 
their  treaty,  476,594  livres.” 

Henry  IV.  had  been  absolved  and  crowned  at  St.  Denis  by  the 
bishops  of  France ;  he  had  not  been  annointed  at  Reims  according  to 
the  religious  traditions  of  the  French  monarchy.  At  Reims  he  could 
not  be,  for  it  was  still  in  the  power  of  the  league.  The  ceremony  took 
place  at  Chartres  on  the  27th  of  February,  1594;  the  bishop  of  Chartres, 


128 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


[1594 


Nicholas  de  Thou,  officiated.  Henry  IV.,  on  his  knees  before  the  grand 
altar,  took  the  usual  oath,  the  form  of  which  was  presented  to  him  by 
Chancellor  de  Chiverny.  With  the  exception  of  local  accessories,  which 
were  acknowledged  to  be  impossible  and  unnecessary,  there  was  nothing 
lacking  to  this  religious  hallowing  of  his  kingship. 

Henry  IV.  started  on  the  21st  of  March,  nearly  one  month  after  the 
ceremony  we  have  just  related,  from  Senlis,  where  he  had  mustered  his  troops, 
arrived  about  midnight  at  St.  Denis,  and  immediately  began  his  march  to 
Paris,  where  a  strong  party,  headed  by  Brissac  and  D’Epinay  St.  Luc,  stood  in 
readiness  to  receive  him.  The  night  was  dark  and  stormy  ;  thunder  rumbled  ; 
rain  fell  heavily  ;  the  king  was  a  little  behind  time.  On  the  22d  of  March 
three  of  the  city  gates  were  thrown  open,  and  the  king’s  troops  entered  Paris. 
They  occupied  the  different  districts  and  met  with  no  show  of  resistance  but 
at  the  quay  of  L’Ecole,  where  an  outpost  of  lanzknechts  tried  to  stop  them  ; 
but  they  were  cut  in  pieces  or  hurled  into  the  river.  Between  five  and  six 
o’clock  Henry  IV.,  at  the  head  of  the  last  division,  crossed  the  draw-bridge  of 
the  New  Gate.  Brissac,  Provost  l’Huillier,  the  sheriffs  and  several  companies 
of  burgesses  advanced  to  meet  him.  At  ten  o’clock  he  was  master  of  the 
whole  city;  the  districts  of  St.  Martin,  of  the  Temple,  and  St.  Anthony 
alone  remained  still  in  the  power  of  three  thousand  Spanish  soldiers  under 
the  orders  of  their  leaders,  the  duke  of  Feria  and  Don  Diego  d’lbarra.  He 
sent  word  to  the  Spaniards  that  they  must  not  move  from  their  quarters,  and 
must  leave  Paris  during  the  day,  at  the  same  time  promising  not  to  bear  arms 
any  more  against  him  in  France.  They  eagerly  accepted  these  conditions. 
At  three  o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  ambassador,  officers,  and  soldiers  all 
evacuated  Paris  and  set  out  for  the  Low  Countries. 

After  his  conversion  to*  Catholicism,  the  capture  of  Paris  was  the  most 
decisive  of  the  issues  which  made  Henry  IV.  really  king  of  France.  The 
submission  of  Rouen  followed  almost  immediately  upon  that  of  Paris ;  and 
the  year  1594  brought  Henry  a  series  of  successes,  military  and  civil,  which 
changed  very  much  to  his  advantage  the  position  of  the  kingship  as  well  as 
the  general  condition  of  the  kingdom. 

The  close  of  this  happy  and  glorious  year  was  at  hand.  On  the  27th  of 
September,  between  6  and  7  P.M.,  a  deplorable  incident  occurred,  for 
the  second  time,  to  call  Henry  IV. ’s  attention  to  the  weak  side  of  his  position. 
An  attempt  upon  his  life  had  already  been  made  by  a  fanatic  named  Barriere  ; 
now  it  was  a  young  man  of  nineteen,  son  of  a  cloth-merchant  in  the  city, 
who,  acting  under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  tried  to  murder  the  king.  He 
was  arrested  and  put  to  death,  a  decree  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  being  at 
the  same  time  (December  29th,  1594)  issued  against  the  Jesuits. 

In  the  mean  while  Philip  II.  persisted  in  his  active  hostility  and  continued 
to  give  the  king  of  France  no  title  but  that  of  prince  of  Bearn.  On  the  17th 
of  January,  1595,  Henry,  in  performance  of  what  he  had  proclaimed,  formally 
declared  war  against  the  king  of  Spain,  forbade  his  subjects  to  have  any 
commerce  with  him  or  his  allies,  and  ordered  them  to  make  war  on  him  for 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


129 


1598] 

the  future,  just  as  he  persisted  in  making  it  on  France.  The  conflict  thus 
solemnly  begun  lasted  three  years  and  three  months,  from  the  17th  of 
January,  1 595?  to  the  Ist  °f  May,  1598,  from  Henry  IV.’s  declaration  of  war 
to  the  peace  of  Vervins,  which  preceded  by  only  four  months  and  thirteen 
days  the  death  of  Philip  II.  and  the  end  of  the  preponderance  of  Spain  in 
Europe.  The  battle  of  Fontaine-Francaise  (5th  June)  was  a  brilliant  evidence 
that  Navarre  while  becoming  a  monarch  had  not  forgotten  to  be  a  soldier. 
The  absolution  at  last  granted  by  Pope  Clement  VIII.  proved  of  the  utmost 
benefit  to  the  king.  The  king  of  Spain  at  last  consented  to  accept  terms  of 
agreement  (Peace  of  Vervins,  May  2d);  and  as  the  promulgation  of  the  edict 
of  Nantes  (April  13th)  had  put  an  end  to  the  wars  of  religion,  so  by  the  treaty 
with  Philip  II.  a  long  period  of  foreign  wars  was  terminated. 

A  month  before  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace  at  Vervins  with 
Philip  II.,  Henry  IV.  had  signed  and  published  at  Paris  on  the  13th  of  April, 
1598,  the  edict  of  Nantes,  his  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Protestant  malcontents. 
This  treaty,  drawn  up  in  ninety-two  open  and  fifty-six  secret  articles,  was  a 
code  of  old  and  new  laws  regulating  the  civil  and  religious  position  of 
Protestants  in  France,  the  conditions  and  guarantees  of  their  worship,  their 
liberties  and  their  special  obligations  in  their  relations,  whether  with  the 
crown  or  with  their  Catholic  fellow-countrymen.  By  this  code  Henry  IV. 
added  a  great  deal  to  the  rights  of  the  Protestants  and  to  the  duties  of  the 
State  toward  them.  The  State  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  providing  for 
the  salaries  of  the  Protestant  ministers  and  rectors  in  their  colleges  or 
schools,  and  an  annual  sum  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  livres  of 
those  times  (four  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  francs  of  the  present  day) 
was  allowed  for  that  purpose.  Donations  and  legacies  to  be  so  applied  were 
authorized.  The  children  of  Protestants  were  admitted  into  the  universities, 
colleges,  schools  and  hospitals,  without  distinction  between  them  and 
Catholics.  There  was  great  difficulty  in  securing  for  them,  in  all  the 
parliaments  of  the  kingdom,  impartial  justice  ;  and  a  special  chamber,  called 
the  edict -chamber,  was  instituted  for  the  trial  of  all  causes  in  which  they  were 
interested.  Catholic  judges  could  not  sit  in  this  chamber  unless  with  their 
consent  and  on  their  presentation.  The  edict  of  Nantes  retained,  at  first  for 
eight  years  and  then  for  four  more,  in  the  hands  of  the  Protestants  the  towns 
which  war  or  treaties  had  put  in  their  possession,  and  which  numbered,  it  is 
said,  two  hundred.  The  king  was  bound  to  bear  the  burthen  of  keeping  up 
their  fortifications  and  paying  their  garrisons;  and  Henry  IV.  devoted  to  that 
object  five  hundred  and  forty  thousand  livres  of  those  times,  or  about  two 
million  francs  of  our  day. 

Whatever  their  imperfections  and  the  objections  that  might  be  raised  to 
them,  the  peace  of  Vervins  and  the  edict  of  Nantes  were,  amid  the  obstacles 
and  perils  encountered  at  every  step  by  the  government  of  Henry  IV.,  the 
two  most  timely  and  most  beneficial  acts  in  the  world  for  France. 

Four  months  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Vervins,  on  the  13th 
of  September,  1598,  Philip  II.  died  at  the  Escurial,  and  on  the  3d  of  April, 

9 


130 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


[1598 

1603,  a  second  great  royal  personage,  Queen  Elizabeth,  disappeared  from  the 
scene.  Thus  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  Henry  IV.  was  the 
only  one  remaining  of  the  three  great  sovereigns  who,  during  the  sixteenth, 
had  disputed,  as  regarded  religion  and  politics,  the  preponderance  in  Europe. 
He  had  succeeded  in  all  his  kingly  enterprises  ;  he  had  become  a  Catholic  in 
France  without  ceasing  to  be  the  prop  of  the  Protestants  in  Europe;  he  had 
made  peace  with  Spain  without  embroiling  himself  with  England,  Holland 
and  Lutheran  Germany.  It  was  just  then  that  he  gave  the  strongest  proof  of 
his  great  judgment  and  political  sagacity ;  he  was  not  intoxicated  with 
success;  he  did  not  abuse  his  power;  he  concerned  himself  chiefly  with  the 
establishment  of  public  order  in  his  kingdom  and  with  his  people’s  prosperity. 
Henry  IV.  had  a  sympathetic  nature;  his  grandeur  did  not  lead  him  to 
forget  the  nameless  multitudes  whose  fate  depended  upon  his  government. 
He  had,  besides,  the  rich,  productive,  varied,  inquiring  mind  of  one  who  took 
an  interest  not  only  in  the  welfare  of  the  French  peasantry,  but  in  the 
progress  of  the  whole  French  community,  progress  agricultural,  industrial, 
commercial,  scientific,  and  literary. 

Abroad  the  policy  of  Henry  IV.  was  as  judicious  and  far-sighted  as  it 
was  just  and  sympathetic  at  home.  There  has  been  much  writing  and 
dissertation  about  what  has  been  called  his  grand  design.  This  name  has  been 
given  to  a  plan  for  the  religious  and  political  organization  of  Christendom, 
consisting  in  the  division  of  Europe  among  three  religions,  the  Catholic,  the 
Calvinistic  and  the  Lutheran,  and  into  fifteen  States,  great  or  small, 
monarchical  or  republican,  with  equal  rights,  alone  recognized  as  members  of 
the  Christian  confederation,  regulating  in  concert  their  common  affairs  and 
pacifically  making  up  their  differences,  while  all  the  while  preserving  their 
national  existence.  The  grand  design ,  so  far  as  Henry  IV.  was  concerned,  was 
never  a  definite  project.  His  true  external  policy  was  much  more  real  and 
practical.  When  he  became  the  most  puissant  and  most  regarded  of 
European  kings,  he  set  his  heart  very  strongly  on  two  things,  toleration  for 
the  three  religions  which  had  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves  in  Europe 
and  showing  themselves  capable  of  contending  one  against  another,  and  the 
abasement  of  the  house  of  Austria,  which,  even  after  the  death  of  Charles  V. 
and  of  Philip  II.,  remained  the  real  and  the  formidable  rival  of  France.  The 
external  policy  of  Henry  IV.  from  the  treaty  of  Vervins  to  his  death  was 
religious  peace  in  Europe  and  the  alliance  of  Catholic  France  with  Protestant 
England  and  Germany  against  Spain  and  Austria. 

Four  men,  very  unequal  in  influence  as  well  as  merit,  Sully,  Villeroi,  Du 
Plessis-Mornay,'  and  D’Aubigne,  did  Henry  IV.  effective  service,  by  very 
different  processes  and  in  very  different  degrees,  toward  establishing  and 
rendering  successful  this  internal  and  external  policy.  Three  were  Protestants  ; 
Villeroi  alone  was  a  Catholic.  Sully  is  beyond  comparison  with  the  other 
three.  He  is  the  only  one  whom  Henry  IV.  called  my  friend ;  the  only  one 
who  had  participated  in  all  the  life  and  all  the  government  of  Henry  IV.,  his 
eivil  as  well  as  his  exalted  fortunes,  his  most  painful  embarrassments  at  home 


i6oo] 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


131 

as  well  as  his  greatest  political  acts  ;  the  only  one  whose  name  has  remained 
inseparably  connected  with  that  of  a  master  whom  he  served  without  servility 
as  well  as  without  any  attempt  to  domineer. 

Henry  IV.  made  so  great  a  case  of  Villeroi’s  co-operation  and  influence 
that,  without  loving  him  as  he  loved  Sully,  he  upheld  him  and  kept  him  as 
Secretary  of  State  for  foreign  affairs  to  the  end  of  his  reign. 

Philip  du  Plessis-Mornay  occupied  a  smaller  place  than  Sully  and 
Villeroi  in  the  government  of  Henry  IV. ,  but  he  held  and  deserves  to  keep 
a  great  one  in  the  history  of  his  times.  He  was  the  most  eminent  and  also 
the  most  moderate  of  the  men  of  profound  piety  and  conviction  of  whom  the 
Reformation  had  made  a  complete  conquest,  soul  and  body,  and  who  placed 
their  public  fidelity  to  their  religious  creed  above  every  other  interest  and 
every  other  affair  in  this  world. 

A  third  Protestant,  Theodore  Agrippa  d’Aubigne,  grandfather  of  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  has  been  reckoned  here  among,  not  the  councilors,  certainly, 
but  the  familiar  and  still  celebrated  servants  of  Henry  IV.  He  held  no  great 
post  and  had  no  great  influence  with  the  king  ;  he  was,  on  every  occasion,  a 
valiant  soldier,  a  zealous  Protestant,  an  indefatigable  lover  and  seeker  of 
adventure,  sometimes  an  independent  thinker,  frequently  an  eloquent  and 
bold  speaker,  always  a  very  sprightly  companion. 

These  politicians,  these  Christians,  these  warriors  had,  in  1600,  a  grave 
question  to  solve  for  Henry  IV.  and  grave  counsel  to  give  him.  He  was 
anxious  to  separate  from  his  wife,  Marguerite  de  Valois,  who  had,  in  fact, 
been  separated  from  him  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  was  leading  a  very  irregular 
life,  and  had  not  brought  him  any  children.  But  in  order  to  obtain  from  the 
pope  annulment  of  the  marriage  it  was  first  necessary  that  Marguerite 
should  agree  to  it,  and  at  no  price  would  she  yield  so  long  as  the  king’s 
favorite  continued  to  be  Gabrielle  d’Estrees,  whom  she  detested  and  by  whom 
Henry  already  had  several  children.  In  consequence,  however,  of  the 
favorite’s  sudden  death  (April  10th,  1599),  the  consent  of  Marguerite  de  Valois 
to  the  annulment  of  her  marriage  was  obtained  ;  and  negotiations  were 
opened  at  Rome  by  Arnauld  d’Ossat,  who  was  made  a  cardinal,  and  by 
Brulart  de  Sillery,  ambassador  ad  hoc. 

Clement  VIII.  pronounced  on  the  17th  of  December,  I599>  an<^  trans¬ 
mitted  to  Paris  by  Cardinal  de  Joyeuse  the  decree  of  annulment.  On  the  6th 
of  January,  1600,  Henry  IV.  gave  his  ambassador,  Brulart  de  Sillery,  powers 
to  conclude  at  Florence  his  marriage  with  Mary  de’  Medici,  daughter  of 
Francis  I.  de’  Medici,  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  and  Joan,  archduchess  of 
Austria.  As  early  as  the  year  1592  there  had  been  something  said  about  this 
project  of  alliance  ;  it  was  resumed  and  carried  out  on  the  5th  of  October, 
1600,  at  Florence,  with  lavish  magnificence.  Mary  embarked  at  Leghorn  on 
the  17th  with  a  fleet  of  seventeen  galleys;  she  arrived  at  Marseilles  on 
the  3d  of  November  and  at  Lyons  on  the  2d  of  December,  where  she  waited 
till  the  9th  for  the  king,  who  was  detained  by  the  war  with  Savoy.  He 
entered  her  chamber  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  booted  and  armed,  and  next 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV. 


132 


[1601 


day,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  John,  re-celebrated  his  marriage,  more  rich 
in  wealth  than  it  was  destined  to  be  in  happiness. 

Henry  IV.  seemed  to  have  attained  in  his  public  and  in  his  domestic  life 
the  pinnacle  of  earthly  fortune  and  ambition.  He  was,  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  Catholic  king  and  the  head  of  the  Protestant  polity  in  Europe,  accepted 
by  the  Catholics  as  the  best,  the  only  possible,  king  for  them  in  France.  He  was 
at  peace  with  all  Europe,  except  one  petty  prince,  the  duke  of  Savoy,  Charles 
Emmanuel  I.,  from  whom  he  demanded  back  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo  or  a 
territorial  compensation  in  France  itself  on  the  French  side  of  the  Alps. 
After  a  short  campaign,  and  thanks  to  Rosny’s  ordnance,  he  obtained  what  he 
desired,  and  by  a  treaty  of  January  17th,  1601,  he  added  to  French  territory 
La  Bresse,  Le  Bugey,  the  district  of  Gex  and  the  citadel  of  Bourg,  which  still 
held  out  after  the  capture  of  the  town. 

The  queen’s  coronation  had  been  proclaimed  on  the  12th  of  May,  1610; 
she  was  to  be  crowned  next  day  the  13th  at  St.  Denis,  and  Sunday  the  16th 
had  been  appointed  for  her  to  make  her  entry  into  Paris.  On  Friday  the  14th 
the  king  had  an  idea  of  going  to  the  Arsenal  to  see  Sully,  who  was  ill ;  we 
have  the  account  of  this  visit  and  of  the  assassination  given  by  Malherbe,  at 
that  time  attached  to  the  service  of  Henry  IV.,  in  a  letter  written  on  the  19th 
of  May  from  the  reports  of  eye-witnesses. 

“At  last  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go,  and  having  kissed  the  queen  several 
times,  bade  her  adieu.  Among  other  things  that  were  remarked  he  said  to 
her,  ‘I  shall  only  go  there  and  back;  I  shall  be  here  again  almost  directly.’ 
When  he  got  to  the  bottom  of  the  steps  where  his  carriage  was  waiting  for 
him,  M.  de  Praslin,  his  captain  of  the  guard,  would  have  attended  him,  but 
he  said  to  him,  ‘  Get  you  gone  ;  I  want  nobody ;  go  about  your  business.’ 

“  Thus,  having  about  him  only  a  few  gentlemen  and  some  footmen,  he 
got  into  his  carriage,  took  his  place  on  the  back  seat  at  the  left-hand  side,  and 
made  M.  d’Epernon  sit  at  the  right.  When  he  came  to  the  Croix-du-Tiroir 
he  was  asked  whither  it  was  his  pleasure  to  go  ;  he  gave  orders  to  go  toward 
St.  Innocent.  On  arriving  at  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie,  which  is  at  the  end  of 
that  of  St.  Honore  on  the  way  to  that  of  St.  Denis,  opposite  the  Salamandre 
he  met  a  cart  which  obliged  the  king’s  carriage  to  go  nearer  to  the  iron¬ 
mongers’  shops  which  are  on  the  St.  Innocent  side,  and  even  to  proceed  some¬ 
what  more  slowly,  without  stopping.  Here  it  was  that  an  abominable  assassin, 
who  had  posted  himself  against  the  nearest  shop,  darted  upon  the  king  and 
dealt  him,  one  after  the  other,  two  blows  with  a  knife  in  the  left  side ;  one, 
catching  him  between  the  arm-pit  and  the  nipple,  went  upward  without  doing 
more  than  graze ;  the  other  catches  him  between  the  fifth  and  sixth  ribs,  and, 
taking  a  downward  direction,  cuts  a  large  artery  of  those  called  venous.  He 
uttered  a  low  cry  and  made  a  few  movements. 

“  In  a  moment  the  carriage  turned  toward  the  Louvre.  When  he  was  at 
the  steps  where  he  had  got  into  the  carriage,  which  are  those  of  the  queen’s 
rooms,  some  wine  was  given  him.  Of  course  some  one  had  already  run 
forward  to  bear  the  news.  I  tell  you  nothing  about  the  queen’s  tears  ;  all 


Assassination  ot'  Marshal  d'Ancre  on  the  bridge  of  the  Louvre,  April  24,  1617. 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  133. 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIII. 


1617] 


133 


that  must  be  imagined.  As  for  the  people  of  Paris,  I  think  they  never  wept 
so  much  as  on  this  occasion.” 

On  the  king’s  death — and  at  the  imperious  instance  of  the  duke  of  Epernon, 
who  at  once  introduced  the  queen,  and  said  in  open  session,  as  he  exhibited 
his  sword,  “It  is  as  yet  in  the  scabbard,  but  it  will  have  to  leap  therefrom 
unless  this  moment  there  be  granted  to  the  queen  a  title  which  is  her  due 
according  to  the  order  of  nature  and  of  justice,” — the  Parliament  forthwith 
declared  Mary  regent  of  the  kingdom.  Thanks  to  Sully ’s  firm  administration, 
there  were,  after  the  ordinary  annual  expenses  were  paid,  at  that  time  in  the 
vaults  of  the  Bastile  or  in  securities  easily  realizable,  forty-one  million  three 
hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  livres,  and  there  was  nothing  to  suggest  that 
extraordinary  and  urgent  expenses  would  come  to  curtail  this  substantial 
reserve.  The  army  was  disbanded  and  reduced  to  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  men,  French  or  Swiss.  For  a  long  time  past  no  power  in  France 
had,  at  its  accession,  possessed  so  much  material  strength  and  so  much  moral 
authority.  Henry  IV. ’s  first  wife,  the  sprightly  and  too  facile  Marguerite  de 
Valois,  was  dead  also,  after  consenting  to  descend  from  the  throne  in  order  to 
make  way  for  the  mediocre  Mary  de’  Medici.  The  Catholic  champion  whom 
Henry  IV.  felicitated  himself  upon  being  able  to  oppose  to  Du  Plessis-Mornay 
in  the  polemical  conferences  between  the  two  communions,  Cardinal  de  Perron, 
was  at  the  point  of  death.  The  decay  was  general  and  the  same  among  the 
Protestants  as  among  the  Catholics  ;  Sully  and  Mornay  held  themselves  aloof 
or  were  barely  listened  to.  In  place  of  these  eminent  personages  had  come 
intriguing  or  ambitious  subordinates,  who  were  either  innocent  of,  or  indiffer¬ 
ent  to,  anything  like  a  great  policy,  and  who  had  no  idea  beyond  themselves 
and  their  fortunes.  The  chief  among  them  were  Leonora  Galigai,  daughter 
of  the  queen’s  nurse,  and  her  husband,  Concino  Concini,  son  of  a  Florentine 
notary,  both  of  them  full  of  coarse  ambition,  covetous,  vain  and  determined 
to  make  the  best  of  their  new  position,  so  as  to  enrich  themselves  and  exalt 
themselves  beyond  measure  and  at  any  price.  The  husband  of  Leonora 
Galigai,  Concini,  had  amassed  a  great  deal  of  money  and  purchased  the 
marquisate  of  Ancre ;  nay,  more,  he  had  been  created  marshal  of  France. 
Louis  XIII.  had  among  his  personal  attendants  a  young  nobleman,  Albert  de 
Luynes,  clever  in  training  little  sporting  birds,  called  butcher-birds  ( pics 
gricches  or  shrikes ),  then  all  the  rage  ;  and  the  king  made  him  his  falconer  and 
lived  on  familiar  terms  with  him.  Playing  at  billiards  one  day,  Marshal 
d’Ancre,  putting  on  his  hat,  said  to  the  king,  “  I  hope  your  majesty  will  allow 
me  to  be  covered.”  The  king  allowed  it ;  but  remained  surprised  and  shocked. 
His  young  page,  Albert  de  Luynes,  observed  his  displeasure,  and  being 
anxious  himself  also  to  become  a  favorite  he  took  pains  to  fan  it.  A 
domestic  plot  was  set  hatching  against  Marshal  d’Ancre,  who  was  shot  down 
on  the  bridge  of  the  Louvre  (April  24th,  1617)  by  M.  de  Vitry,  captain  of  the 
guard.  Shortly  after,  Leonora  Galigai,  accused  of  witchcraft,  was  beheaded 
on  the  Place  de  Greve,  and  her  body  committed  to  the  flames. 

Concini  and  his  wife,  both  of  them,  probably,  in  the  secret  service  of  the 


134 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIII. 


[1617 

court  of  Madrid,  had  promoted  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIII.  with  the  infanta 
Anne  of  Austria,  eldest  daughter  of  Philip  III.,  king  of  Spain,  and  that  of 
Philip,  infanta  of  Spain,  who  was  afterward  Philip  IV.,  with  Princess  Eliza¬ 
beth  of  France,  sister  of  Louis  XIII.  Henry  IV.,  in  his  plan  for  the  pacifica¬ 
tion  of  Europe,  had  himself  conceived  this  idea  and  testified  a  desire  for  this 
double  marriage,  but  without  taking  any  trouble  to  bring  it  about.  It  was 
after  his  death  that,  on  the  30th  of  April,  1612,  Villeroi,  minister  of  foreign 
affairs  in  France,  and  Don  Inigo  de  Cardenas,  ambassador  of  the  king  of 
Spain,  concluded  this  double  union  by  a  formal  deed.  The  States-general 
were  convoked  first  for  the  16th  of  September,  1614,  at  Sens;  and,  afterward, 
for  the  20th  of  October  following,  when  the  young  king,  Louis  XIII.,  after 
the  announcement  of  his  majority,  himself  opened  them  in  state.  The  chief 
political  fact  connected  with  the  convocation  of  the  States-general  of  1614 
was  the  entry  into  their  ranks  of  the  youthful  bishop  of  Lucon,  Armand  John 
du  Plessis  de  Richelieu,  marked  out  by  the  finger  of  God  to  sustain,  after  the 
powerful  reign  of  Henry  IV.  and  the  incapable  regency  of  Mary  de’  Medici, 
the  weight  of  the  government  of  France. 

He  had  even  then  acquired  among  the  clergy  and  at  the  court  of  Louis 
XIII.  sufficient  importance  to  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  speaking  in  pres¬ 
ence  of  the  king  on  the  acceptance  of  the  acts  of  the  council  of  Trent  and  on 
the  restitution  of  certain  property  belonging  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  Bearn. 
He  made  skillful  use  of  the  occasion  for  the  purpose  of  still  further  exalting 
and  improving  the  question  and  his  own  position.  The  post  of  almoner  to 
the  queen-regnant,  Anne  of  Austria,  was  his  reward.  He  carried  still  further 
his  ambitious  foresight ;  in  February,  1615,  at  the  time  when  the  session  of 
the  States-general  closed,  Marshal  d’Ancre  and  Leonora  Galigai  were  still 
favorites  with  the  queen-mother ;  Richelieu  laid  himself  out  to  be  pleasant  to 
them,  and  received  from  the  marshal  in  1616  the  post  of  secretary  of  State 
for  war  and  foreign  affairs.  Marshal  d’Ancre  was  at  that  time  looking  out  for 
supports  against  his  imminent  downfall.  When,  in  1617,  he  fell  and  was 
massacred,  people  were  astonished  to  find  Richelieu  on  good  terms  with  the 
marshal’s  court-rival,  Albert  de  Luynes,  who  pressed  him  to  remain  in  the 
council  at  which  he  had  sat  for  only  five  months.  He  would,  he  said,  be  more 
useful  to  the  government  of  the  young  king;  for,  by  remaining  at  the  side  of 
Mary  de’  Medici,  he  would  be  able  to  advise  and  restrain  her. 

The  astute  minister  contrived  to  interest  both  parties  on  his  behalf.  To 
the  court  he  adduced  his  withdrawal  from  public  business  as  a  proof  of  the 
most  absolute  submission  ;  to  Mary  de’  Medici  he  described  it  as  the  result  of 
his  unremitting  zeal  for  her  service,  and  as  a  new  persecution  on  the  part  of 
her  enemies.  He  thus  contrived  to  weather  the  storm  ;  and  when  the  excite¬ 
ment  produced  by  the  catastrophe  of  Concini  had  subsided,  he  looked  round 
to  see  what  could  be  done.  The  bishop  of  Lucon,  through  his  determina¬ 
tion,  his  intrigues,  his  unscrupulous  conduct,  had  become  a  dangerous  person¬ 
age  ;  he  was  first  ordered  to  return  to  his  priory  at  Coussay,  then  to  his  epis¬ 
copal  palace,  and  finally  he  was  banished  to  Avignon.  There  he  seemed 


MARIA  DE  MEDICI. 

P.  P.  Rubens.  Prado,  Madrid.  Page  135, 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIII. 


135 


1622] 

determined  upon  leading  a  life  of  seclusion,  and  a  casual  observer,  anxious 
to  know  how  he  spent  his  time,  would  have  found  him  busily  employed  in 
writing  theological  works.  This,  of  course,  was  merely  a  feint,  and  when 
Mary  de’  Medici  contrived  to  escape  from  Blois,  he  joined  her  without  any 
further  delay.  By  his  influence,  the  whole  of  the  Anjou  nobility — the  dukes 
De  Longueville,  De  Bouillon,  D’Epernon — rallied  round  the  standard  of  the 
queen.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Pont-de-Ce,  near  Angers,  where  the  rebel 
troops  met  with  a  signal  defeat.  A  treaty,  nevertheless,  concluded  shortly 
after,  secured  to  Richelieu  almost  as  many  advantages  as  if  he,  and  not  De 
Luynes,  had  triumphed.  The  queen  received  permission  to  return  to  court, 
with  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges  and  honors  due  to  her  rank;  and 
the  king  pledged  himself  to  solicit  a  cardinal’s  hat  for  Richelieu,  whose  niece, 
Mademoiselle  de  Pont-Courlay,  married  the  Marquis  de  Combalet,  nephew  of 
De  Luynes  (1619-20). 

Albert  de  Luynes  came  out  of  this  crisis  well  content.  He  felicitated 
himself  on  the  king’s  victory  over  the  queen-mother,  for  he  might  consider 
the  triumph  as  his  own ;  he  had  advised  and  supported  the  king’s  steady  resist¬ 
ance  to  his  mother’s  enterprises.  Besides,  he  had  gained  by  it  the  rank  and 
power  of  constable  ;  it  was  at  this  period  that  he  obtained  them,  thanks  to 
the  retirement  of  Lesdiguieres,  who  gave  them  up  to  assume  the  title  of 
marshal-general  of  the  king’s  camps  and  armies.  The  royal  favor  did  not 
stop  there  for  Luynes;  the  keeper  of  the  seals,  Du  Vair,  died  in  1621  ;  and 
the  king  handed  over  the  seals  to  the  new  constable,  who  thus  united  the 
military  authority  with  that  of  justice,  without  being  either  a  great  warrior  or 
a  great  lawyer. 

The  favorite  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  Protestants,  and  he  pretended 
to  compel  those  of  Bearn  and  Navarre  to  restore  what  he  designed  as  secular¬ 
ized  Church  property.  A  general  rising  was  the  consequence ;  in  order  to 
quell  it,  De  Luynes  took  the  command  of  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men  and 
laid  siege  before  Montauban.  The  siege  proved,  however,  more  difficult  than 
had  been  anticipated;  the  royal  troops  were  compelled  toJwithdraw:  and  De 
Luynes,  having  caught  fever  while  attacking  the  smaller  town  of  Monheurt, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Garonne,  died  on  the  14th  of  December. 

Richelieu,  created  a  cardinal  in  1622,  set  his  face  steadily  against 
all  the  influences  of  the  great  lords  ;  he  broke  them  down  one  after 
another;  he  presistently  elevated  the  royal  authority.  It  was  the  hand 
of  Richelieu  which  made  the  court  and  paved  the  way  for  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  The  Fronde  was  but  a  paltry  interlude  and  a  sanguinary 
game  between  parties.  At  Richelieu’s  death,  pure  monarchy  was  founded. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1622,  the  work  was  as  yet  full  of 
difficulty.  There  were  numerous  rivals  for  the  heritage  of  royal  favor 
that  had  slipped  from  the  dying  hands  of  Luynes.  The  first  victim  of 
Richelieu’s  stern  home  policy  proved  to  be  Colonel  Ornano,  lately  created 
a  marshal  at  the  duke  of  Anjou’s  request ;  he  was  arrested  and  carried 
off  a  prisoner  “  to  the  very  room  where,  twenty-four  years  ago,  Marshal 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIII. 


[1624 


136 

Biron  had  been  confined.”  Richelieu  was  neither  meddlesome  nor  cruel, 
but  he  was  pitiless  toward  the  sufferings  as  well  as  the  supplication  of 
those  who  sought  to  thwart  his  policy.  Thus  again.  Henry  de  Talley¬ 
rand,  count  of  Chalais,  master  of  the  wardrobe,  hare-brained  and  frivolous, 
had  hitherto  made  himself  talked  about  only  for  his  duels  and  his 
successes  with  women.  He  had  already  been  drawn  into  a  plot  against 
the  cardinal’s  life;  but,  under  the  influence  of  remorse,  he  had  confessed 
his  criminal  intentions  to  the  minister  himself.  Richelieu  appeared  touched 
by  the  repentance,  but  he  did  not  forget  the  offense,  and  his  watch 

over  this  “  unfortunate  gentleman,”  as  he  himself  calls  him,  made  him 
aware  before  long  that  Chalais  was  compromised  in  an  intrigue  which 

aimed  at  nothing  less,  it  was  said,  than  to  secure  the  person  of  the 

cardinal  by  means  of  an  ambush,  so  as  to  get  rid  of  him  at  need. 

Chalais  was  arrested  in  his  bed  on  the  8th  of  July,  and  condemned  to 
death  on  the  18th  of  August,  1626. 

At  the  outset  of  his  ministry,  in  1624,  Richelieu  had  obtained  from 

the  king  a  severe  ordinance  against  duels,  a  fatal  custom  which  was  at 

that  time  decimating  the  noblesse.  Already  several  noblemen,  among 
others  M.  du  Plessis-Praslin,  had  been  deprived  of  their  offices,  or  sent 
into  exile  in  consequence  of  their  duels,  when  M.  de  Bouteville,  of  the 
house  of  Montmorency,  who  had  been  previously  engaged  in  twenty-one 
affairs  of  honor,  came  to  Paris  to  fight  the  marquis  of  Beuvron  on  the 
Place  Royale.  The  marquis’s  second,  M.  de  Bussy  d’Amboise,  was  killed 
by  the  count  of  Chapelles,  Bouteville’s  second.  Beuvron  fled  to  England. 

M.  de  Bouteville  and  his  comrade  had  taken  post  for  Lorraine  ;  they 

were  recognized  and  arrested  at  Vitry-le-Brule,  and  brought  back  to  Paris; 
and  the  king  immediately  ordered  parliament  to  bring  them  to  trial. 
The  crime  was  flagrant,  and  the  defiance  of  the  king’s  orders  undeniable; 
but  the  culprit  was  connected  with  the  greatest  houses  in  the  kingdom ; 
he  had  given  striking  proofs  of  bravery  in  the  king’s  service ;  and  all 
the  court  interceded  for  him.  Parliament,  with  regret,  pronounced  condem¬ 
nation,  absolving  the  memory  of  Bussy  d’Amboise,  who  was  the  son  of 
President  de  Mesmes’s  wife,  and  reducing  to  one-third  of  their  goods  the 
confiscation  to  which  the  condemned  were  sentenced. 

The  enemies  of  Richelieu  had  not  renounced  the  idea  of  over¬ 
throwing  him,  their  hopes  even  went  on  growing,  since,  for  some  time  past, 
the  queen-mother  had  been  waxing  jealous  of  the  all-powerful  minister, 
and  no  longer  made  common  cause  with  him.  The  king  was  danger¬ 
ously  ill  at  .  Lyons ;  they  thought  the  opportunity  too  good  to  be  lost ; 
and  indeed  managed  so  well  that  when  the  court  returned  to  Paris,  the 
cardinal’s  disgrace  seemed  inevitable.  But  he  determined  upon  making  a 
final  effort,  and  securing  an  interview  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour  with  Louis 
XIII.,  at  Versailles,  he  frightened  the  monarch,  and  left  the  palace  as 
powerful  as  ever.  Marshal  Marillac  had  to  pay  for  the  rest ;  seized  in 
the  middle  of  his  army,  he  was  tried  before  a  court  composed  of  his 


Cinq-Mars  and  De  Thou  led  to  execution  for  conspiracy  against  Louis  XIII 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  138. 


1632] 


FRANCE.— THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIII. 


137 

private  enemies,  and  in  the  cardinal’s  own  palace,  at  Ruel.  Of  course, 
under  such  circumstances,  it  was  useless  to  expect  mercy ;  the  unfortu¬ 
nate  warrior  was  beheaded.  Assisted  by  the  Duke  de  Lorraine,  whose 
daughter  he  had  married,  Gaston  raised  an  army  of  brigands,  as  they 
have  justly  been  termed.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Castelnaudary  (1632); 
the  king’s  troops  were  victorious,  and  Montmorency  shared  the  fate  of 
Marillac,  while  Gaston  d’Orleans  “  swore  by  the  faith  of  a  gentleman  that 
he  would  ever  be  my  lord  the  cardinal’s  best  friend.” 

Women  filled  but  a  short  space  in  the  life  of  Louis  XIII.  Twice, 
however,  in  that  interval  of  ten  years  which  separated  the  plot  of 
Montmorency  from  that  of  Cinq-Mars,  did  the  minister  believe  himself 
to  be  threatened  by  feminine  influence ;  and  twice  he  used  artifice  to 
win  the  monarch’s  heart  and  confidence  from  two  young  girls  of  his 
court,  Louise  de  Lafayette  and  Marie  d’Hautefort.  Both  were  maids  of 
honor  to  the  queen. 

Louis  XIII. ’s  fancies  were  never  of  long  duration,  and  his  growing 
affection  for  young  Cinq-Mars,  son  of  Marshal  d’Effiat,  led  him  to  sacrifice 
Mdlle.  d’Hautefort.  The  cardinal  merely  asked  him  to  send  her  away  for 
a  fortnight.  She  insisted  upon  hearing  the  order  from  the  king’s  own 
mouth.  “  The  fortnight  will  last  all  the  rest  of  my  life,”  she  said :  “  and 
so  I  take  leave  of  your  Majesty  forever.” 

M.  de  Cinq-Mars  was  only  nineteen  when  he  was  made  master  of 
the  wardrobe  and  grand  equerry  of  France.  Brilliant  and  witty  he  amused 
the  king  and  occupied  the  leisure  which  peace  gave  him. 

Then  began  a  series  of  negotiations  and  intrigues :  the  duke  of  Orleans 
had  come  back  to  Paris ;  the  king  was  ill  and  the  cardinal  more  so  than 
he ;  thence  arose  conjectures  and  insenate  hopes.  The  duke  of  Bouillon, 
being  sent  for  by  the  king,  who  confided  to  him  the  command  of  the 

army  of  Italy,  was  at  the  same  time  drawn  into  the  plot,  which  was 

beginning  to  be  woven  against  the  minister ;  the  duke  of  Orleans  and 

the  queen  were  in  it ;  and  the  town  of  Sedan,  of  which  Bouillon  was 
prince-sovereign,  was  wanted  to  serve  the  authors  of  the  conspiracy  as 
an  asylum  in  case  of  reverse.  Sedan  alone  was  not  sufficient  ;  there 

was  need  of  an  army.  Whence  was  it  to  come?  Thoughts  naturally 
turned  toward  Spain.  A  negotiation  was  therefore  concluded  at  Madrid, 
by  Fontrailles,  in  the  name  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  a  copy  of  it 
soon  found  its  way  to  Richelieu’s  study. 

The  king  could  not  believe  his  eyes ;  and  his  wrath  equaled  his  astonish¬ 
ment.  Together  with  that  of  the  grand  equerry,  he  ordered  the  immediate 
arrest  of  M.  de  Thou,  his  intimate  friend ;  and  the  order  went  out  to 
secure  the  duke  of  Bouillon,  then  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  Italy. 
He,  caught  like  Marshal  Marillac  in  the  midst  of  his  troops,  had  vainly 
attempted  to  conceal  himself ;  but  he  was  taken  and  conducted  to  the 
castle  of  Pignerol. 

The  two  accused  denied  nothing:  M.  de  Thou  merely  maintained 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


138 


[1633 


that  he  had  not  been  in  any  way  mixed  up  with  the  conspiracy,  proving 
that  he  had  planned  the  treaty  with  Spain,  and  that  his  only  crime  was 

not  having  revealed  it.  The  last  tragic  scene  was  not  destined  to  be 

long  deferred ;  the  very  day  on  which  the  sentence  was  delivered  saw 
the  execution  of  it.  “We  have  seen,”  says  a  report  of  the  time,  “the 
favorite  of  the  greatest  and  most  just  of  kings  lose  his  head  upon  the 
scaffold  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  but  with  a  firmness  which  has  scarcely 
its  parallel  in  our  histories.  We  have  seen  a  councillor  of  State  die  like 
a  saint  after  a  crime  which  men  can  not  justly  pardon.  There  is  nobody 
in  the  world  who,  knowing  of  their  conspiracy  against  the  State,  does 
not  think  them  worthy  of  death,  and  there  will  be  few  who,  having 

knowledge  of  their  rank  and  their  fine  natural  qualities,  will  not  mourn 

their  sad  fate.  At  the  last  hour,  and  at  the  bottom  of  their  hearts, 
the  frivolous  courtier  and  the  hare-brained  conspirator,  as  well  as  the  brave 
soldier  and  the  grave  magistrate,  had  recovered  their  faith  in  God. 


DL 


HE  French  parliaments,  and  in  particular  the  parlia¬ 
ment  of  Paris,  had  often  assumed  the  right,  without 
the  royal  order,  of  summoning  the  princes,  dukes,  peers 
and  officers  of  the  crown  to  deliberate  upon  what 
was  to  be  done  for  the  service  of  the  king,  the 
good  of  the  State,  and  the  relief  of  the  people. 

This  pretension  on  the  part  of  the  parliaments  was  what 
Cardinal  Richelieu  was  continually  fighting  against.  He  would 
not  allow  the  intervention  of  the  magistrates  in  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  State.  When  he  took  the  power  into  his  hands, 
nine  parliaments  sat  in  France — Paris,  Toulouse,  Grenoble, 
Cr  Bordeaux,  Dijon,  Rouen,  Aix,  Rennes,  and  Pau :  he  created 
^  but  one,  that  of  Metz,  in  1633,  to  sever  in  a  definitive  manner 
the  bonds  which  still  attached  the  three  bishoprics  to  the 
Germanic  Empire.  Trials  at  that  time  were  carried  in  the 
last  resort  to  Spires. 

A  notification  of  the  king’s,  published  in  1641,  prohibited  the  parliament 
from  any  interference  in  affairs  of  State  and  administration.  The  cardinal 
had  gained  the  victory ;  parliament  bowed  the  head  ;  its  attempts  at 
independence  during  the  Fronde  were  but  a  flash,  and  the  yoke  of  Louis 
XIV.  became  the  more  heavy  for  it. 

Though  ever  first  in  the  breach,  the  parliament  of  Paris  was  not  alone  in 
its  opposition  to  the  cardinal.  The  parliament  of  Rouen  had  always  passed 


I 


CARDINAL  RICHELIEU. 

Pa^e  138. 


f 


1637] 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


139 


for  one  of  the  most  recalcitrant.  The  province  of  Normandy  was  rich  and, 
consequently,  overwhelmed  with  imposts ;  and  several  times  the  parliament 
refused  to  enregister  financial  edicts  which  still  further  aggravated  the  distress 
of  the  people.  In  1637  the  king  threatened  to  go  in  person  to  Rouen  and 
bring  the  parliament  to  submission,  whereat  it  took  fright  and  enregistered 
decrees  for  twenty-two  millions.  It  was,  no  doubt,  this  augmentation  of 
imposts  that  brought  about  the  revolt  of  the  Nu-pieds  {Bare foots)  in  1639. 
Before  now,  in  1624  and  in  1637,  in  Perigord  and  Rouergue,  two  popular 
risings  of  the  same  sort,  under  the  name  of  Croquants  {Paupers),  had  disquieted 
the  authorities,  and  the  governor  of  the  province  had  found  some  trouble  in 
putting  them  down.  The  Nu-pieds  were  more  numerous  and  more  violent 
still ;  from  Rouen  to  Avranches  all  the  country  was  ablaze.  At  Coutances 
and  at  Vire,  several  monopoliers  and  gabeleurs,  as  the  fiscal  officers  were  called, 
were  massacred ;  a  great  number  of  houses  were  burnt,  and  most  of  the 
receiving-offices  were  pulled  down  or  pillaged.  Everywhere  the  army  of 
suffering  {armee  de  souffrance ),  the  name  given  by  the  revolters  to  themselves, 
made  appeal  to  violent  passions  ;  popular  rhymes  were  circulated  from  hand 
to  hand,  in  the  name  of  General  Nu-pied  {Barefoot),  an  imaginary  personage 
whom  nobody  ever  saw. 

Colonel  Gassion,  a  good  soldier  and  an  inflexible  character,  was  sent  to 
put  down  the  rebellion.  First  at  Caen,  then  at  Avranches,  where  there  was 
fighting  to  be  done,  at  Coutances  and  at  Elbeuf,  Gassion’s  soldiery  everywhere 
left  the  country  behind  them  in  subjection,  in  ruin  and  in  despair.  They 
entered  Rouen  on  the  31st  of  December,  1639,  and  on  the  2d  of  January, 
1640,  the  chancellor  himself  arrived  to  do  justice  on  the  rebels  heaped  up  in 
the  prisons,  whom  the  parliament  dared  not  bring  up  for  judgment.  The 
province  and  its  parliament  were  henceforth  reduced  to  submission. 

It  was  not  only  the  parliaments  that  resisted  the  efforts  of  Cardinal 
Richelieu  to  concentrate  all  the  power  of  the  government  in  the  hands  of  the 
king.  From  the  time  that  the  sovereigns  had  given  up  convoking  the  States- 
general,  the  States-provincial  had  alone  preserved  the  right  of  bringing  to  the 
foot  of  the  throne  the  plaints  and  petitions  of  subjects.  Unhappily  few 
provinces  enjoyed  this  privilege  :  Languedoc,  Brittany,  Burgundy,  Provence, 
Dauphiny,  and  the  countship  of  Pau  alone  were  States-districts,  that  is  to  say, 
allowed  to  tax  themselves  independently  and  govern  themselves  to  a  certain 
extent.  Normandy,  though  an  elections-district,  and,  as  such,  subject  to  the 
royal  agents  in  respect  of  finance,  had  States  which  continued  to  meet  even 
in  1666.  The  States-provincial  were  always  convoked  by  the  king,  who  fixed 
the  place  and  duration  of  assembly. 

The  composition  of  the  States-provincial  varied  a  great  deal,  according 
to  the  district. 

As  a  sequel  to  the  systematic  humiliation  of  the  great  lords,  even  when 
provincial  governors,  and  to  the  gradual  enfeeblement  of  provincial  institu¬ 
tions,  Richelieu  had  to  create  in  all  parts  of  France,  still  so  diverse  in 
organization  as  well  as  in  manners,  representatives  of  the  kingly  power,  of 

o 


140 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


[163  7 

too  modest  and  feeble  a  type  to  do  without  him,  but  capable  of  applying  his 
measures  and  making  his  wishes  respected.  Before  now  the  kings  of  France 
had  several  times  over  perceived  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  a  supervision  over 
the  conduct  of  their  officers  in  the  provinces.  Richelieu  substituted  for  these 
shifting  commissions  a  fixed  and  regular  institution,  and  in  1637  he  established 
in  all  the  provinces  overseers  of  justice ,  police ,  and  jinance ,  who  were  chosen 
for  the  most  part  from  among  the  burgesses,  and  who  before  long  concen¬ 
trated  in  their  hands  the  whole  administration  and  maintained  the  struggle  of 
the  kingly  power  against  the  governors,  the  sovereign  courts  and  the  States- 
provincial. 

At  the  time  when  the  overseers  of  provinces  were  instituted,  the  battle 
of  pure  monarchy  was  gained  ;  Richelieu  had  no  further  need  of  allies,  he 
wanted  mere  subjects  ;  but  at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry  he  had  felt  the 
need  of  throwing  himself  sometimes  for  support  on  the  nation,  and  this  great 
foe  of  the  States-general  had  twice  convoked  the  assembly  of  notables.  The 
first  took  place  at  Fontainebleau,  in  1625-6,  and  the  second,  during  the 
following  year,  after  the  conspiracy  of  Chalais.  It  was  the  notables  who 
preserved  in  the  hands  of  the  inflexible  minister  the  terrible  weapon  of  which 
he  availed  himself  so  often.  The  assembly  separated  on  the  24th  of  February, 
1627,  the  last  that  was  convoked  before  the  revolution  of  1789.  It  was  in 
answer  to  its  demands,  as  well  as  to  those  of  the  States  of  1614,  that  the 
keeper  of  the  seals,  Michael  Marillac,  drew  up,  in  1629,  the  important 
administrative  ordinance  which  has  preserved  from  its  author’s  name  the  title 
of  Code  Michaii. 

The  cardinal  had  propounded  to  the  notables  a  question  which  he  had 
greatly  at  heart,  the  foundation  of  a  navy.  Harbors  repaired  and  fortified, 
arsenals  established  at  various  points  on  the  coast,  organization  of  marine 
regiments,  foundations  of  pilot-schools,  in  fact,  the  creation  of  a  powerful 
marine  which,  in  1642,  numbered  sixty-three  vessels  and  twenty-two  galleys, 
that  left  the  roads  of  Barcelona  after  the  rejoicings  for  the  capture  of 
Perpignan  and  arrived  the  same  evening  at  Toulon — such  were  the  fruits  of 
Richelieu’s  administration  of  naval  affairs. 

Richelieu  labored  for  Catholicism  while  securing  for  himself  Protestant 
alliances,  and  if  the  independence  of  his  mind  caused  him  to  feel  the 
necessity  for  a  reformation,  it  was  still  in  the  Church  and  by  the  Church  that 
he  would  have  had  it  accomplished. 

Mid  all  the  diplomatic  negotiations  which  he  undertook  in  Richelieu’s 
name  and  the  intrigues  he,  with  the  queen-mother,  often  hatched  against  him, 
Cardinal  Berulle  founded  the  congregation  of  the  Oratory,  designed  to  train 
up  well-informed  and  pious  young  priests  with  a  capacity  for  devoting  them¬ 
selves  to  the  education  of  children  as  well  as  the  edification  of  the  people. 
It  was,  again,  under  his  inspiration  the  order  of  Carmelites,  hitherto  confined 
to  Spain,  was  founded  in  France.  The  convent  in  Rue  St.  Jacques  soon 
numbered  among  its  penitents  women  of  the  highest  rank. 

Some  time  before,  in  1610,  St.  Francis  de  Sales  had  founded,  under  the 


1638] 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


141 

direction  of  Madame  dc  Chantal,  the  order  of  Visitation,  whose  duty  was  the 
care  of  the  sick  and  poor ;  he  had  left  the  direction  of  his  new  institution  to 
M.  Vincent ,  as  was  at  that  time  the  appellation  of  the  poor  priest  without 
birth  and  without  fortune  who  was  one  day  to  be  celebrated  throughout  the 
world  under  the  name  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  This  direction  was  not  enough 
to  satisfy  his  zeal  for  charity ;  children  and  sick,  the  ignorant  and  the  convict, 
all  those  who  suffered  in  body  or  spirit,  seemed  to  summon  M.  Vincent  to 
their  aid.  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  had  confidence  in  human  nature,  and  every¬ 
where  on  his  path  sprang  up  good  works  in  response  to  his  appeals :  the 
foundation  of  Mission-priests  or  Lazarists,  designed  originally  to  spread  about 
in  the  rural  districts  the  knowledge  of  God,  still  testifies  in  the  East,  whither 
they  carry  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  Gospel  and  the  name  of  France, 
to  that  great  awakening  of  Christian  charity  which  signalized  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIII. 

Nowhere  was  this  fluctuating  idea  of  the  sacrifice,  the  immolation  of 
man  for  God  and  of  the  present  in  prospect  of  eternity,  more  rigorously 
understood  and  practiced  than  among  the  disciples  of  John  du  Vergier  de 
Hauranne,  abbot  of  St.  Cyran.  He  wrote  also,  and  his  book,  il  Petrus 
Aurelius ,”  published  under  the  veil  of  the  anonymous,  excited  a  great  stir  by 
its  defense  of  the  rights  of  the  bishops  against  the  monks  and  even  against 
the  pope.  The  Gallican  bishops  welcomed  at  that  time  with  lively 
satisfaction  its  eloquent  pleadings  in  favor  of  their  cause.  But,  at  a  later 
period,  the  French  clergy  discovered  in  St.  Cyran’s  book  free-thinking 
concealed  under  dogmatic  forms.  “  In  case  of  heresy  any  Christian  may 
become  judge,”  says  Petrus  Aurelius.  So  M.  de  St.  Cyran  was  condemned 

He  had  been  already  signaled  out  as  dangerous  by  an  enemy  more 
formidable  than  the  assemblies  of  the  clergy  of  France.  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
naturally  attracted  toward  greatness  as  he  was  at  a  later  period  toward  the 
infant  prodigy  of  the  Pascals,  had  been  desirous  of  attaching  St.  Cyran  to 
himself.  But  the  abbot  of  St.  Cyran  would  accept  no  yoke  but  God’s  :  he 
remained  independent  and  perhaps  hostile,  pursuing,  without  troubling  him¬ 
self  about  the  cardinal,  the  great  task  he  had  undertaken. 

Before  long  he  had  seen  forming,  beside  Port  Royal  and  in  the  solitude 
of  the  fields,  a  nucleus  of  penitents,  emulous  of  the  hermits  of  the  desert. 
M.  le  Maitre,  Mother  Angelica’s  nephew,  a  celebrated  advocate  in  the 
parliament  of  Paris,  had  quitted  all  “  to  have  no  speech  but  with  God.”  A 
howling  penitent,  he  had  drawn  after  him  his  brothers,  MM.  de  Sacy  and  De 
Sericourt,  and,  ere  long,  young  Lancelot,  the  learned  author  of  Greek  roots : 
all  steeped  in  the  rigors  of  penitential  life,  all  blindly  submissive  to  M.  de  St. 
Cyran  and  his  saintly  requirements.  The  director’s  power  over  so  many 
eminent  minds  became  too  great.  The  king,  being  advertised,  commanded 
him  to  be  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  Bois  de  Vincennes,  where  he  remained  up  to 
the  death  of  Cardinal  Richelieu. 

Cardinal  Richelieu  dreaded  the  doctrines  of  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  and  s/fill 
more  those  of  the  reformation,  which  went  directly  to  the  emancipation  cif 


142 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


[1638 


souls ;  but  he  had  the  wit  to  resist  ecclesiastical  encroachments,  and,  for  all 
his  being  a  cardinal,  never  did  minister  maintain  more  openly  the  indepen¬ 
dence  of  the  civil  power.  “  The  king,  in  things  temporal,  recogizes  no 
sovereign  save  God.”  That  had  always  been  the  theory  of  the  Gallican 
Church. 

The  French  clergy  did  not  understand  it  so;  they  had  recourse  to  the 
liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church  in  order  to  keep  up  a  certain  measure  of 
independence  as  regarded  Rome,  but  they  would  not  give  up  their  ancient 
privileges,  and  especially  the  right  of  taking  an  independent  share  in  the 
public  necessities  without  being  taxed  as  a  matter  of  law  and  obligation. 
Here  it  was  that  Cardinal  Richelieu  withstood  them  :  he  maintained  that,  the 
ecclesiastics  and  the  brotherhoods  not  having  the  right  to  hold  property  in 
France  by  mortmain,  the  king  tolerated  their  possession  of  his  grace,  but  he 
exacted  the  payment  of  seignorial  dues.  The  clergy  at  that  time  possessed 
more  than  a  quarter  of  the  property  in  France  ;  the  tax  to  be  paid  amounted, 
it  is  said,  to  eighty  millions.  The  subsidies  further  demanded  reached  a  total 
of  eight  million  six  hundred  livres. 

The  clergy  in  dismay  wished  to  convoke  an  assembly  to  determine  their 
conduct  :  and  after  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  it  was  authorized  by  the 
cardinal  ;  they  consented  to  pay  five  millions  and  a  half,  the  sum  to  which 
the  minister  lowered  his  pretensions. 

While  the  cardinal  imposed  upon  the  French  clergy  the  obligations  com¬ 
mon  to  all  subjects,  he  defended  the  kingly  power  and  majesty  against  the  ul- 
tramontanes,  and  especially  against  the  Jesuits;  finally  he  turned  his  attention 
to  the  submission  of  the  Protestants.  Hostilities  broke  out  afresh  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1625.  The  peace  of  Montpellier  had  left  the  Protestants 
only  two  surety-places,  Montauban  and  La  Rochelle ;  and  they  clung  to  them 
with  desperation.  On  the  6th  of  January,  1625,  Soubise  suddenly  entered  the 
harbor  of  Le  Blavet  with  twelve  vessels,  and  seizing  without  a  blow  the  royal 
ships,  towed  them  off  in  triumph  to  La  Rochelle,  a  fatal  success  which  was  to 
cost  that  town  dear. 

The  royal  navy  had  hardly  an  existence ;  after  the  capture  made  by 
Soubise,  help  had  to  be  requested  from  England  and  Holland;  the  English 
promised  eight  ships;  the  treaties  with  the  United  Provinces  obliged  the 
Hollanders  to  supply  twenty,  which  they  would  gladly  have  refused  to  send 
against  their  brethren,  if  they  could  ;  the  cardinal  even  required  that  the 
ships  should  be  commanded  by  French  captains.  The  siege  of  La  Rochelle 
has  become  famous  in  history ;  it  lasted  thirteen  months,  and  the  unfortunate 
Huguenots  had  to  surrender,  in  spite  of  the  heroism  of  Guiton,  the  mayor  of 
the  town,  assisted  by  the  unflinching  energy  of  the  old  duchess  of  Rohan. 

\\  it h  La  Rochelle  fell  the  last  bulwark  of  religious  liberties.  Single- 
handed,  Duke  Henry  of  Rohan  now  resisted  at  the  head  of  a  handful  of  reso¬ 
lute  men.  But  he  was  about  to  be  crushed  in  his  turn.  The  capture  of  La 
Rochelle  had  raised  the  cardinal  s  power  to  its  height ;  it  had,  simultaneously, 
been  the  death-blow  to  the  Huguenot  party  and  to  the  factions  of  the  grandees. 


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Cardinal  Richelieu  and  his  secretary,  Father  Joseph. 
A.  de  Neuville.  Page  142. 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


H3 


1638] 

Town  after  town,  “  fortified  Huguenot-wise,”  surrendered,  opening  to  the  royal 
armies  the  passage  to  the  Cevennes.  Rohan  saw  that  he  could  no  longer 
impose  the  duty  of  resistance  upon  a  people  weary  of  suffering.  He  sent  “  to 
the  king,  begging  to  be  received  to  mercy,  thinking  it  better  to  resolve  on 
peace  while  he  could  still  make  some  show  of  being  able  to  help  it,  than  to 
be  forced,  after  a  longer  resistance,  to  surrender  to  the  king  with  a  rope 
round  his  neck.”  The  cardinal  advised  the  king  to  show  the  duke  grace, 
“  well  knowing  that,  together  with  him  individually,  the  other  cities,  whether 
they  wished  it  or  not,  would  be  obliged  to  do  the  like,  there  being  but  little 
resolution  and  constancy  in  people  deprived  of  leaders,  especially  when  they 
are  threatened  with  immediate  harm  and  see  no  door  of  escape  open.” 

The  general  assembly  of  the  reformers,  which  was  then  in  meeting  at 
Nimes,  removed  to  Anduze  to  deliberate  with  the  duke  of  Rohan.  No  more 
surety-towns;  fortifications  everywhere  razed,  at  the  expense  and  by  the 
hands  of  the  reformers;  the  Catholic  worship  re-established  in  all  the  churches 
of  the  reformed  towns ;  and,  at  this  price,  an  amnesty  granted  for  all  acts  of 
rebellion,  and  religious  liberties  confirmed  anew — such  were  the  conditions  of 
the  peace  signed  at  Alais  on  the  28th  of  June,  1629,  and  made  public  the 
following  month  at  Nimes  under  the  name  of  Edict  of  grace.  Montauban 
alone  refused  to  submit  to  them. 

The  duke  of  Rohan  left  France  and  retired  to  Venice,  where  his  wife  and 
daughter  were  awaiting  him.  He  had  been  appointed  by  the  Venetian  senate 
generalissimo  of  the  forces  of  the  republic,  when  the  cardinal,  who  had  no 
doubt  preserved  some  regard  for  his  military  talents,  sent  him  an  offer  of  the 
command  of  the  king’s  troops  in  the  Valteline.  There  he  for  several  years 
maintained  the  honor  of  France,  being  at  one  time  abandoned  and  at  another 
supported  by  the  cardinal,  who  ultimately  left  him  to  bear  the  odium  of  the 
last  reverse.  Being  threatened  with  the  king’s  wrath,  he  set  out  for  the  camp 
of  his  friend  Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe-Weimar;  and  it  was  while  fighting  at  his 
side  against  the  Imperialists,  that  he  received  the  wound  of  which  he  died  in 
Switzerland  on  the  16th  of  April,  1638. 

Meanwhile  the  king  had  set  out  for  Paris,  and  the  cardinal  was  marching 
on  Montauban.  Being  obliged  to  halt  at  Pezenas  because  he  had  a  fever,  he 
there  received  a  deputation  from  Montauban,  asking  to  have  its  fortifications 
preserved.  On  the  minister’s  formal  refusal,  supported  by  a  movement  in  ad¬ 
vance  on  the  part  of  Marshal  Bassompierre  with  the  army,  the  town  submitted 
unreservedly ;  the  fortifications  of  Castres  were  already  beginning  to  fall ;  and 
the  Huguenot  party  in  France  was  dead.  This  was  the  commencement  of 
their  material  prosperity;  they  henceforth  transferred  to  commerce  and 
industry  all  the  intelligence,  courage  and  spirit  of  enterprise  that  they  had  but 
lately  displayed  in  the  service  of  their  cause,  on  the  battle-field,  or  in  the  cabi¬ 
nets  of  kings. 

“  From  that  time,”  says  Cardinal  Richelieu,  “difference  in  religion  never 
prevented  me  from  rendering  the  Huguenots  all  sorts  of  good  offices,  and  I 
made  no  distinction  between  Frenchmen  but  in  respect  of  fidelity.”  A  grand 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


144 


[1638 


assertion,  true  at  bottom,  in  spite  of  the  frequent  grievances  which  the 
reformers  had  often  to  make  the  best  of. 

Everywhere  in  Europe  were  marks  of  Richelieu’s  handiwork.  “  There 
must  be  no  end  to  negotiations  near  and  far,”  was  his  saying:  he  had  found 
negotiations  succeed  in  France;  he  extended  his  views ;  numerous  treaties  had 
already  marked  the  early  years  of  the  cardinal’s  power;  and,  after  1630,  his 
activity  abroad  was  redoubled.  Between  1623  and  1642,  seventy-four  treaties 
were  concluded  by  Richelieu:  four  with  England:  twelve  with  the  United 
Provinces;  fifteen  with  the  princes  of  Germany;  six  with  Sweden;  twelve 
with  Savoy;  six  with  the  Republic  of  Venice;  three  with  the  pope;  three 
with  the  emperor;  two  with  Spain;  four  with  Lorraine;  one  with  the  Gray 
Leagues  of  Switzerland ;  one  with  Portugal ;  two  with  the  revolters  of  Cata¬ 
lonia  and  Roussillon;  one  with  Russia;  two  with  the  emperor  of  Morocco. 
Such  was  the  immense  network  of  diplomatic  negotiations  whereof  the 
cardinal  held  the  threads  during  nineteen  years. 

The  foreign  policy  of  Richelieu  was  a  continuation  of  that  of  Henry  IV. ; 
it  was  to  Protestant  alliances  that  he  looked  for  support  in  order  to  maintain 
the  struggle  against  the  house  of  Austria,  whether  the  German  or  Spanish 
branch.  So  soon  as  he  was  secure  that  no  political  discussions  in  France 
itself  would  come  to  thwart  his  foreign  designs,  he  marched  with  a  firm  step 
toward  that  enfeeblement  of  Spain  and  that  upsetting  of  the  empire  of  which 
Nani  speaks;  Henry  IV.  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  pursuing  the  same  end,  had 
sought  and  found  the  same  allies;  Richelieu  had  the  good  fortune,  beyond 
theirs,  to  meet,  for  the  execution  of  his  designs,  with  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
king  of  Sweden. 

The  marriage  of  Henry  IV.’s  daughter  with  the  prince  of  Wales  was,  in 
Richelieu’s  eyes,  one  of  the  essential  acts  of  a  policy  necessary  to  the  great¬ 
ness  of  the  kingship  and  of  France.  He  obtained  the  best  conditions  possible 
for  the  various  interests  involved,  but  without  any  stickling  and  without  favor 
for  such  and  such  an  one  of  these  interests,  skillfully  adapting  words  and 
appearance,  but  determined  upon  attaining  his  end. 

Spain  had  always  been  the  great  enemy  of  France,  and  her  humiliation 
was  always  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  cardinal’s  foreign  policy.  The  first  was 
the  question  of  the  Valteline,  a  lovely  and  fertile  valley,  which,  extending 
from  the  lake  of  Como  to  the  Tyrol,  thus  serves  as  a  natural  communication 
between  Italy  and  Germany.  Possessed  but  lately,  as  it  was,  by  the  Gray 
Leagues  of  the  Protestant  Swiss,  the  Valteline,  a  Catholic  district,  had  revolt¬ 
ed  at  the  instigation  of  Spain  in  1520;  the  emperor,  Savoy  and  Spain  wanted 
to  divide  the  spoil  between  them  ;  when  France,  the  old  ally  of  the  Grisons, 
interfered,  and,  in  1623,  the  forts  of  the  Valteline  had  been  entrusted  on 
deposit  to  the  pope,  Urban  VIII.  He  still  retained  them  in  1624,  when  the 
Grison  lords,  seconded  by  a  French  re-enforcement  under  the  orders  of  the 
marquis  of  Coeuvres,  attacked  the  feeble  garrison  of  the  Valteline ;  in  a  few 
days  they  were  masters  of  all  the  places  in  the  canton,  and  the  enemies  were 
compelled  to  sign  the  peace  of  Moncon  (1626).  The  Grisons  remained  in 


Death  of  the  Swedish 

A. 


Hero-King.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  at  Liitzen. 
de  Neuville.  Page  145. 


1642] 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


H5 

possession  of  the  Valteline,  Austria  ceased  to  communicate  with  Spain,  and 
Richelieu  found  himself,  so  to  say,  on  the  road  to  Vienna. 

While  the  cardinal  was  holding  La  Rochelle  besieged,  the  duke  of  Man¬ 
tua  had  died  in  Italy,  and  his  natural  heir,  Charles  di  Gonzaga,  had  hastened 
to  put  himself  in  possession  of  his  dominions.  Meanwhile  the  duke  of  Savoy 
claimed  the  marquisate  of  Montferrat ;  the  Spaniards  supported  him ;  they 
entered  the  dominions  of  the  duke  of  Mantua  and  laid  siege  to  Casale.  When 
La  Rochelle  succumbed,  Casale  was  still  holding  out;  but  the  duke  of  Savoy 
had  already  made  himself  master  of  the  greater  part  of  Montferrat ;  the  duke 
of  Mantua  claimed  the  assistance  of  the  king  of  France,  whose  subject  he 
was.  Here  was  a  fresh  battle-field  against  Spain;  and,  scarcely  had  he  been 
victorious  over  the  Rochellese,  when  the  king  was  on  the  march  for  Italy. 
The  siege  of  Casale  was  raised,  and,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Suza,  the  duchy 
of  Mantua  was  secured  to  Richelieu’s  protege ,  the  duke  of  Nevers.  Scarcely 
however  had  Louis  XIII.  re-crossed  the  Alps  when  an  Imperialist  army  ad¬ 
vanced  into  the  Grisons,  and,  supported  by  the  celebrated  Spanish  general 
Spinola,  laid  siege  to  Mantua.  Richelieu  did  not  hesitate:  he  entered  Pied¬ 
mont  in  the  month  of  March,  1630,  to  march  before  long  on  Pignerol,  an 
important  place,  commanding  the  passage  of  the  Alps.  It,  as  well  as  the 
citadel,  was  carried  in  a  few  days.  The  result  of  this  fresh  interposition 
was  the  treaty  of  Cherasco  (1630),  where  the  young  Giulio  Mazarini  won  his 
spurs  as  an  able  and  successful  diplomatist. 

The  house  of  Austria,  in  fact,  was  threatened  mortally.  For  two  years 
Cardinal  Richelieu  had  been  laboring  to  carry  war  into  its  very  heart.  The 
Thirty  Years’  War,  now  raging  in  all  its  fury,  had  increased  a  hundred-fold  the 
emperor’s  power.  Richelieu’s  genius  and  activity  checked  the  progress  of  the 
great  Imperialist  generals,  and  opposed  to  them  a  warrior  who,  in  his  short 
career,  abundantly  proved  that  a  clever  system  of  tactics  does  not  always 
ensure  success.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  hero  of  Zutphen,  fought  at  the 
same  time  the  battles  of  Richelieu  and  those  of  the  Protestant  cause.  After 
the  death  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  the  position  of  France  became  for  awhile 
extremely  difficult.  The  Imperialists  assumed  the  offensive;  they  entered 
France  by  Burgundy  and  by  Picardy.  In  the  year  1640,  however,  Richelieu 
adopted  a  more  expeditious  plan ;  he  occupied  the  Spaniards  at  home  by 
sending  support  to  the  rebels  of  Catalonia  and  of  Portugal;  while,  to  retaliate, 
the  government  of  Madrid  espoused  the  cause  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and 
prepared  the  catastrophe  which  was  to  impart  such  a  tragic  feature  to  the  last 
moments  of  the  great  cardinal.  For  several  months  past,  Richelieu’s  health, 
always  precarious,  had  taken  a  serious  turn ;  it  was  from  his  sick-bed  that  he, 
a  prey  to  cruel  agonies,  directed  the  movements  of  the  army  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  prosecution  of  Cinq-Mars.  All  at  once  his  chest  was  attacked  ;  and 
the  cardinal  felt  that  he  was  dying.  On  the  2d  of  December,  1642,  public 
prayers  were  ordered  in  all  the  churches;  the  king  went  from  St.  Germain  to 
see  his  minister.  The  cardinal  was  quite  prepared.  “I  have  this  satisfaction,” 
he  said,  “that  I  have  never  deserted  the  king,  and  that  I  leave  his  kingdom 


10 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


[1642 


146 

exalted  and  all  his  enemies  abased.”  He  commended  his  relatives  to  his 
Majesty,  “who  on  their  behalf  will  remember  my  services;  ”  then,  naming  the 
two  secretaries  of  state,  Chavigny  and  De  Noyers,  he  added:  “Your  Majesty 
has  Cardinal  Mazarin ;  I  believe  him  to  be  capable  of  serving  the  king.”  And 
he  handed  to  Louis  XIII.  a  proclamation  which  he  had  just  prepared  for  the 
purpose  of  excluding  the  duke  of  Orleans  from  any  right  to  the  regency  in 
case  of  the  king’s  death.  The  preamble  called  to  mind  that  the  king  had  five 
times  already  pardoned  his  brother,  recently  engaged  in  a  new  plot  against 
him. 

Richelieu’s  work  survived  him.  On  the  very  evening  of  the  3d  of  De¬ 
cember,  Louis  XIII.  called  to  his  council  Cardinal  Mazarin;  and  the  next  day 
he  wrote  to  the  parliaments  and  governors  of  provinces:  “God  having  been 
pleased  to  take  to  Himself  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  I  have  resolved  to  pre¬ 
serve  and  keep  up  all  establishments  ordained  during  his  ministry,  to  follow 
out  all  projects  arranged  with  him  for  affairs  abroad  and  at  home,  in  such  sort 
that  there  shall  not  be  any  change.”  Scarcely  had  the  most  powerful  kings 
yielded  up  their  last  breath,  when  their  wishes  had  been  at  once  forgotten : 
Cardinal  Richelieu  still  governed  in  his  grave. 

The  great  statesman  had  been  barely  four  months  reposing  in  that  chapel 
of  the  Sorbonne  which  he  had  himself  repaired  for  the  purpose,  and  already 
King  Louis  XIII.  was  sinking  into  the  tomb.  The  minister  had  died  at  fifty- 
seven,  the  king  was  not  yet  forty-two ;  but  his  always  languishing  health 
seemed  unable  to  bear  the  burden  of  affairs  which  had  been  but  lately  borne 
by  Richelieu  alone.  He  died  on  Thursday,  May  14th,  1643.  France 
owed  to  Louis  XIII.  eighteen  years  of  Cardinal  Richelieu’s  government;  and 
that  is  a  service  which  she  can  never  forget. 

For  sixty  years  a  momentous  crisis  had  been  exercising  language  and 
literature  as  well  as  society  in  France.  They  yearned  to  get  out  of  it. 
Robust  intellectual  culture  had  ceased  to  be  the  privilege  of  the  erudite  only  * 
it  began  to  gain  a  footing  on  the  common  domain  ;  people  no  longer  wrote  in 
Latin,  like  Erasmus  ;  the  Reformation  and  the  Renaissance  spoke  French. 
In  order  to  suffice  for  this  change,  the  language  was  taking  form  ;  everybody 
had  lent  a  hand  to  the  work ;  Calvin  with  his  Christian  Institutes  ( Institution 
Chretienne')  at  the  same  time  as  Rabelais  with  his  learned  and  buffoonish 
romance,  Ramus  with  his  Dialectics ,  and  Bodin  with  his  Republic ,  Henry 
Estienne  with  his  essays  in  French  philology,  as  well  as  Ronsard  and  his 
friends  by  their  classical  crusade.  Simultaneously  with  the  language  there 
was  being  created  a  public  intelligent,  inquiring,  and  eager.  Scarcely  had  the 
translation  of  Plutarch  by  Amyot  appeared,  when  it  at  once  became,  as 
Montaigne  says,  “  the  breviary  of  women  and  of  ignoramuses.” 

As  for  Montaigne  himself,  an  inquiring  spectator,  without  personal 
ambition,  he  had  taken  for  his  life’s  motto,  “  What  do  I  know?  (Que  sais-je?)” 
Amid  the  wars  of  religion  he  remained  without  political  or  religious  passion. 

The  sixteenth  century  began  everything,  attempted  everything ;  it 
accomplished  and  finished  nothing;  its  great  men  opened  the  road  of  the 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


147 


1650] 

future  to  France  ;  but  they  died  without  having  brought  their  work  well 
through,  without  foreseeing  that  it  was  going  to  be  completed.  The 
Reformation  itself  did  not  escape  this  misappreciation  and  discouragement  of 
its  age ;  and  nowhere  do  they  crop  out  in  a  more  striking  manner  than  in 
Montaigne.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Rabelais,  a  satirist 
and  a  cynic,  is,  nevertheless,  no  skeptic  ,  there  is  felt  circulating  through  his 
book  a  glowing  sap  of  confidence  and  hope.  Fifty  years  later,  Montaigne,  on 
the  contrary,  expresses,  in  spite  of  his  happy  nature,  in  vivid,  picturesque, 
exuberant  language,  only  the  lassitude  of  an  antiquated  age.  “  Make 
known  to  Monsieur  de  Geneve,”  said  Henry  IV.  to  one  of  the  friends  of  St. 
Francis  de  Sales,  “  that  I  desire  of  him  a  work  to  serve  as  a  manual  for  all 
persons  of  the  court  and  the  great  world,  without  excepting  kings  and  princes,, 
to  fit  them  for  living  Christianly,  each  according  to  their  condition.  I  want 
this  manual  to  be  accurate,  judicious,  and  such  as  any  one  can  make  use  of.” 
St.  Francis  de  Sales  published,  in  1608,  the  Introduction  to  a  Devout  Life ,  a 
delightful  and  charming  manual  of  devotion,  more  stern  and  firm  in  spirit 
than  in  form,  a  true  Christian  regimen,  softened  by  the  tact  of  a  delicate  and 
acute  intellect,  knowing  the  world  and  its  ways. 

Rene  Descartes,  who  was  born  at  La  Haye,  near  Tours,  in  1596,  and 
died  at  Stockholm  in  1650,  escaped  the  influence  of  Richelieu  by  the  isolation 
to  which  he  condemned  himself,  as  well  as  by  the  proud  and  somewhat 
uncouth  independence  of  his  character.  His  independence  of  thought  did 
not  tend  to  revolt ;  in  publishing  his  Discourse  on  Method  he  halted  at  the 
threshold  of  Christianism  without  laying  his  hand  upon  the  sanctuary. 

By  his  philosophical  method,  powerful  and  logical,  as  well  as  by  the  clear, 
strong,  and  concise  style  he  made  use  of  to  expound  it,  Descartes 
accomplished  the  transition  from  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  seventeenth  ; 
he  was  the  first  of  the  great  prose-writers  of  that  incomparable  epoch,  which 
laid  forever  the  foundations  of  the  language.  At  the  same  moment  the  great 
Corneille  was  rendering  poetry  the  same  service. 

It  had  come  out  of  the  sixteenth  century  more  disturbed  and  less  formed 
than  prose ;  Ronsard  and  his  friends  had  received  it,  from  the  hands  of 
Marot,  quite  young,  unsophisticated  and  undecided  ;  they  attempted,  as  a 
first  effort,  to  raise  it  to  the  level  of  the  great  classic  models  of  which  their 
minds  were  full.  The  attempt  was  bold,  and  the  Pleiad  did  not  pretend  to 
consult  the  taste  of  the  vulgar.  Peace  revived  with  Henry  IV.,  and  the 
court,  henceforth  in  accord  with  the  nation,  resumed  that  empire  over  taste, 
manners,  and  ideas,  which  it  was  destined  to  exercise  so  long  and  so  supremely 
under  Louis  XIV.  Malherbe  became  the  poet  of  the  court,  whose  business 
it  was  to  please  it,  to  adopt  for  it  that  literature  which  had  but  lately  been 
reserved  for  the  feasts  of  the  learned.  “  All  the  wits  were  received  at  the 
Hotel  Rambouillet,  whatever  their  condition,”  says  M.  Cousin  :  “  all  that  was 
asked  of  them  was  to  have  good  manners ;  but  the  aristocratic  tone  was 
established  there  without  any  effort,  the  majority  of  the  guests  at  the  house 
being  very  great  lords,  and  the  mistress  being  at  one  and  the  same  time 


148  FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN.  [1635 

Rambouillet  and  Vivonne.  The  wits  were  courted  and  honored,  but  they 
did  not  hold  the  dominion.” 

Associations  of  the  literary  were  not  unknown  in  France  ;  Ronsard  and 
his  friends,  at  first  under  the  name  of  the  brigade,  and  then  under  that  of  the 
Pleiad,  often  met  to  read  together  their  joint  productions,  and  to  discuss 
literary  questions ;  and  the  same  thing  was  done,  subsequently,  in  Malherbe’s 
rooms.  When  Malherbe  was  dead,  and  Balzac  had  retired  to  his  country- 
house  on  the  borders  of  the  Charente,  some  friends,  “  men  of  letters  and  of 
merits  very  much  above  the  average,”  says  Pellisson  in  his  Histoire  de 
1' Academic  Fran^aise,  “  finding  that  nothing  was  more  inconvenient  in  this 
great  city  than  to  go  often  and  often  to  call  upon  one  another  without  finding 
anybody  at  home,  resolved  to  meet  one  day  in  the  week  at  the  house  of  one 
of  them.”  Such  were  the  commencements  of  the  French  Academy,  which, 
even  after  the  intervention  and  regulationizing  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  still 
preserved  something  of  that  sweetness  and  that  polished  familiarity  in  their 
relations  which  caused  the  regrets  of  its  earliest  founders.  In  making  of  this 
little  private  gathering  a  great  national  institution,  Cardinal  Richelieu  yielded 
to  his  natural  yearning  for  government  and  dominion ;  he  protected  literature 
as  a  minister  and  as  an  admirer;  the  admirer’s  inclination  was  supported  by 
the  minister’s  influence.  At  the  same  time,  and  perhaps  without  being  aware 
of  it,  he  was  giving  French  literature  a  center  of  discipline  and  union  while 
securing  for  the  independence  and  dignity  of  writers  a  supporting-point  which 
they  had  hitherto  lacked.  Order  and  rule  everywhere  accompanied  Cardinal 
Richelieu  ;  the  Academy  drew  up  its  statutes,  chose  a  director,  a  chancellor 
and  a  perpetual  secretary  :  Conrart  was  the  first  to  be  called  to  that  honor  ; 
the  number  of  Academicians  was  set  down  at  forty.  The  letters  patent  for 
establishment  of  the  French  Academy  had  been  sent  to  the  parliament  in 
1635  ;  they  were  not  enregistered  until  1637,  at  the  express  instance  of  the 
cardinal. 

Among  the  earliest  members  of  the  Academy  the  cardinal  had  placed  his 
most  habitual  and  most  intimate  literary  servants,  Bois-Robert,  Desmarets, 
Colletet,  all  writers  for  the  theater,  employed  by  Richelieu  in  his  own 
dramatic  attempts.  Theatrical  representations  were  the  only  pleasure  the 
minister  enjoyed,  in  accord  with  the  public  of  his  day.  As  for  the  theater, 
the  cardinal  aspired  to  try  his  own  hand  at  the  work :  his  literary  labors  were 
nearly  all  political  pieces;  his  tragedy  of  Mirame,  to  which  he  attached  so 
much  value,  and  which  he  had  represented  at  such  great  expense  for  the 
opening  of  his  theater  in  the  Palais-Cardinal,  is  nothing  but  one  continual 
allusion,  often,  bold  even  to  insolence,  to  Buckingham’s  feelings  toward  Anne 
of  Austria. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  fathom  the  causes  of  the  cardinal’s 
animosity  to  the  Cid.  It  was  a  Spanish  piece,  and  represented  in  a  favorable 
light  the  traditional  enemies  of  France  and  of  Richelieu  ;  it  was  all  in  honor 
of  the  duel,  which  the  cardinal  had  prosecuted  with  such  rigorous  justice;  it 
depicted  a  king  simple,  patriarchal,  genial  in  the  exercise  of  his  power,  com 


1639] 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


149 


trary  to  all  the  views  cherished  by  the  minister  touching  royal  majesty;  all 
these  reasons  might  have  contributed  to  his  wrath,  but  there  was  something 
more  personal  and  petty  in  its  bitterness.  The  triumph  of  the  Cid  seemed  to 
the  resentful  spirit  of  a  neglected  and  irritated  patron  a  sort  of  insult.  There¬ 
with  was  mingled  a  certain  shade  of  author’s  jealousy.  Richelieu  saw  in  the 
fame  of  Corneille  the  success  of  a  rebel.  Egged  on  by  base  and  malicious 
influences,  he  attempted  to  crush  him,  as  he  had  crushed  the  house  of  Austria 
and  the  Huguenots. 

The  cabal  of  bad  taste  enlisted  to  a  man  in  this  new  war.  Scudery  was 
standard-bearer;  astounded  that  “such  fantastic  beauties  should  have  seduced 
knowledge  as  well  as  ignorance.”  The  contest  was  becoming  fierce  and  bitter; 
much  was  written  for  and  against  the  Cid ;  the  public  remained  faithful  to  it ; 
the  cardinal  determined  to  submit  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  Academy.  At 
his  instigation,  Scudery  wrote  to  the  Academy  to  make  them  the  judges  in 
the  dispute.  The  Sentiments  de  V Academie  at  last  saw  the  light  in  the  month 
of  December,  1637,  and,  as  Chapelain  had  foreseen,  they  did  not  completely 
satisfy  either  the  cardinal  or  Scudery,  or  Corneille,  who  testified  bitter  dis¬ 
pleasure.  Richelieu  did  not  come  out  of  it  victorious ;  his  anger,  however, 
had  ceased  :  - the  duchess  of  Aiguillon,  his  niece,  accepted  the  dedication  of 
the  Cid ;  when  Horace  appeared,  in  1639,  the  dedicatory  epistle  addressed  to 
the  cardinal  proved  that  Corneille  read  his  works  to  him  beforehand  ; 
“  Horace,  condemned  by  the  decemvirs,  was  acquitted  by  the  people,”  said 
Corneille.  The  same  year  Cinna  came  to  give  the  finishing  touch  to  the  repu¬ 
tation  of  the  great  poet : 

“To  the  persecuted  Cid  the  Cinna  owed  its  birth.” 

The  great  literary  movement  of  the  seventeenth  century  had  begun  ;  it 
had  no  longer  any  need  of  a  protector;  it  was  destined  to  grow  up  alone 
during  twenty  years,  amid  troubles  at  home  and  wars  abroad,  to  flourish  all 
at  once,  with  incomparable  splendor,  under  the  reign  and  around  the  throne 
of  Louis  XIV.  Cardinal  Richelieu,  however,  had  the  honor  of  protecting  its 
birth  ;  he  had  taken  personal  pleasure  in  it  ;  he  had  comprehended  its  impor¬ 
tance  and  beauty ;  he  had  desired  to  serve  it  while  taking  the  direction  of  it. 

The  Academy,  the  Sorbonne,  the  Botanic  Gardens  (Jardin  des  Plantes), 
the  King’s  Press  have  endured  ;  the  theater  has  grown  and  been  enriched  by 
many  master-pieces,  the  press  has  become  the  most  dreaded  of  powers  ;  all  the 
new  forces  that  Richelieu  created  or  foresaw  have  become  developed  without 
him,  frequently  in  opposition  to  him  and  to  the  work  of  his  whole  life  ;  his 
name  has  remained  connected  with  the  commencement  of  all  these  wonders, 
beneficial  or  disastrous,  which  he  had  grasped  and  presaged,  in  a  future  hap¬ 
pily  concealed  from  his  ken. 

The  declaration  of  Louis  XIII.  touching  the  regency  had  been  entirely 
directed  toward  counteracting  by  anticipation  the  power  entrusted  to  his  wife 
and  his  brother.  The  queen’s  regency  and  the  duke  of  Orleans’  lieutenant- 
generalship  were  in  some  sort  subordinated  to  a  council  “  with  a  prohibition 
against  introducing  any  change  therein,  for  any  cause  or  on  any  occasion 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


150 


[1643 


whatsoever.”  The  queen  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  had  signed  and  sworn  the 
declaration. 

King  Louis  XIII.  was  not  yet  in  his  grave  when  his  last  wishes  were 
violated  ;  before  his  death  the  queen  had  made  terms  with  the  ministers ;  the 
course  to  be  followed  had  been  decided.  On  the  18th  of  May,  1643,  the 
queen,  having  brought  back  the  little  king  to  Paris,  conducted  him  in  great 
state  to  the  parliament  of  Paris  to  hold  his  bed  of  justice  there,  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  the  queen  regent,  having  sole  charge  of  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  affairs,  and  modifying  the  council  at  her  pleasure,  announced  to  the 
astounded  court  that  she  should  retain  by  her  Cardinal  Mazarin. 

A  stroke  of  fortune  came  at  the  very  first  to  strengthen  the  regent’s  posi¬ 
tion.  Since  the  death  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  the  Spaniards,  but  recently 
overwhelmed  at  the  close  of  1642,  had  recovered  courage  and  boldness;  new 
counsels  prevailed  at  the  court  of  Philip  IV.,  who  had  dismissed  Olivarez  ;  the 
house  of  Austria  vigorously  resumed  the  offensive  ;  at  the  moment  of  Louis 
XIII.’s  death,  Don  Francisco  de  Mello,  governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  had 
just  invaded  French  territory  by  way  of  the  Ardennes,  and  laid  siege  to 
Rocroi,  on  the  12th  of  May.  The  French  army,  commanded  by  the  young 
duke  of  Enghien,  the  prince  of  Conde’s  son,  scarcely  twenty-two  years  old, 
gained  a  signal  victory  over  the  Spanish  infantry,  till  then  deemed  invincible 

(1643)- 

Negotiations  for  a  general  peace,  the  preliminaries  whereof  had  been 
signed  by  King  Louis  XIII.  in  1641,  had  been  going  on  since  1644  at  Munster 
and  at  Osnabriick,  without  having  produced  any  result.  Fear  of  having  him 
unoccupied  deterred  the  cardinal  from  peace,  and  made  all  the  harder  the 
conditions  he  presumed  to  impose  upon  the  Spaniards.  Meanwhile  the 
United  Provinces,  weary  of  a  war  which  fettered  their  commerce,  and  skill¬ 
fully  courted  by  their  old  masters,  had  just  concluded  a  private  treaty  with 
Spain ;  the  emperor  was  trying,  but  to  no  purpose,  to  detach  the  Swedes 
likewise  from  the  French  alliance,  when  the  victory  of  Lens,  gained  on  the 
20th  of  August,  1648,  over  Archduke  Leopold  and  General  Beck,  came  to 
throw  into  the  balance  the  weight  of  a  success  as  splendid  as  it  was  unex¬ 
pected  ;  one  more  campaign,  and  Turenne  might  be  threatening  Vienna 
while  Conde  entered  Brussels;  the  emperor  saw  there  was  no  help  for  it  and 
bent  his  head.  The  house  of  Austria  split  in  two  ;  Spain  still  refused  to  treat 
with  France,  but  the  whole  of  Germany  clamored  for  peace;  the  conditions  of 
it  were  at  last  drawn  up  at  Munster  by  MM.  Servien  and  De  Lionne ;  M. 
d’Avaux,  the  most  able  diplomatist  that  France  possessed,  had  been  recalled 
to  Paris  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  On  the  24th  of  October,  1648,  after 
four  years  of  negotiation,  France  at  last  had  secured  to  her  Alsace  and  the 
three  bishoprics  of  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun  ;  Sweden  gained  Western  Pome¬ 
rania,  including  Stettin,  the  Isle  of  Rugen,  the  three  mouths  of  the  Oder  and 
the  bishoprics  of  Bremen  and  Werden,  thus  becoming  a  German  power ;  as 
for  Germany,  she  had  won  liberty  of  conscience  and  political  liberty ;  the 
rights  of  the  Lutheran  or  reformed  Protestants  were  equalized  with  those  of 


1648] 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


151 

Catholics ;  henceforth  the  consent  of  a  free  assembly  of  all  the  estates  of  the 
empire  was  necessary  to  make  laws,  raise  soldiers,  impose  taxes,  and  decide 
peace  or  war.  The  peace  of  Westphalia  put  an  end  at  one  and  the  same  time 
to  the  Thirty  Years’  War  and  to  the  supremacy  of  the  house  of  Austria  in 
Germany. 

So  much  glory  and  so  many  military  or  diplomatic  successes  cost  dear ; 
France  was  crushed  by  imposts,  and  the  finances  were  discovered  to  be  in 
utter  disorder ;  the  superintendent,  D’Emery,  an  able  and  experienced  man, 
was  so  justly  discredited  that  his  measures  were,  as  a  foregone  conclusion, 
unpopular ;  an  edict  laying  octroi  or  tariff  on  the  entry  of  provisions  into  the 
city  of  Paris  irritated  the  burgesses,  and  parliament  refused  to  enregister  it. 
For  some  time  past  the  parliament,  which  had  been  kept  down  by  the  iron 
hand  of  Richelieu,  had  perceived  that  it  had  to  do  with  nothing  more  than  an 
able  man  and  not  a  master;  it  began  to  hold  up  its  head  again  ;  a  union  was 
proposed  between  the  four  sovereign  courts  of  Paris  ;  the  queen  quashed  the 
deed  of  union  ;  the  magistrates  set  her  at  naught ;  the  queen  yielded,  author¬ 
izing  the  delegates  to  deliberate  in  the  chamber  of  St.  Louis  at  the  Palace  of 
Justice;  the  pretensions  of  the  parliament  were  exorbitant ;  the  concessions 
which  Cardinal  Mazarin  with  difficulty  wrung  from  the  queen  augmented  the 
parliament’s  demands.  Anne  of  Austria  was  beginning  to  lose  patience,  when 
the  news  of  the  victory  of  Lens  restored  courage  tcT  the  court.  The  grave 
assemblage,  on  the  26th  of  August,  was  issuing  from  Notre  Dame,  where  a 
Te  Deum  had  just  been  sung,  when  Councillor  Broussel  and  President  Blanc- 
mesnil  were  arrested  in  their  houses  and  taken,  the  one  to  St.  Germain  and 
the  other  to  Vincennes. 

The  arrest  of  Broussel,  an  old  man  in  high  esteem,  very  keen  in  his  oppo¬ 
sition  to  the  court,  was  like  fire  to  flax. 

Thousands  of  persons  rushed  to  the  Palais-Royal,  where  the  court  then 
resided,  shouting  out,  “  Libert e  et  Broussel  /”  Barricades  were  erected  in  the 
principal  streets;  the  authority  of  the  chancellor  Seguier  was  set  at  naught, 
and  the  president  of  the  parliament  himself,  Mathieu  Mole,  saw  himself 
obliged  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  the  people.  They  forced  him  to  go  to 
the  queen  at  the  head  of  the  assembly,  and,  under  penalty  of  death,  to  bring 
back  either  Broussel  or  the  cardinal.  He  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  liberty 
of  the  captives,  and  the  queen,  frightened  out  of  her  obstinacy,  hastened  to 
confirm  the  resolutions  of  the  Chambre  de  Saint  Louis  by  a  decree  dated 
October  24th,  1648. 

The  court,  however,  had  yielded  only  with  the  firm  resolution  of  retract¬ 
ing  its  concession  as  soon  as  a  fit  opportunity  should  occur.  The  king  was 
removed  from  Paris  and,  supported  by  Conde,  the  queen-dowager  engaged 
against  the  parliament  the  war  to  which  the  name  of  La  Fronde  has  been 
given  by  way  of  contempt ;  the  rebellion  of  the  parliamentarians  being  com¬ 
pared  to  that  of  unruly  children  who  would  persist  in  fighting  with  slings 
notwithstanding  the  prohibition  of  the  police. 

The  chief  results  of  this  war,  at  least  in  its  commencement,  were  songs, 


152 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


[1649 

epigrams,  lampoons,  and  now  and  then  a  few  insignificant  skirmishes.  The 
twenty  councillors  of  Richelieu’s  creation,  who  supplied  fifteen  thousand  livres 
toward  the  expenses  of  the  war,  in  order  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  their 
colleagues,  were  nick-named  les  quinze-vingts.  As  for  serious  battles,  there 
were  none.  Conde  had  only  to  present  himself  with  a  handful  of  soldiers ; 
he  defeated  at  Charenton  the  armies  of  the  Parisians  who  had  marched  out 
against  him  covered  with  ribbons  and  feathers.  An  arrangement  was  made 
at  Ruel  (April,  1649),  but  the  court  returned  to  Paris  only  four  months  after¬ 
ward. 

The  State  stroke  had  succeeded  ;  Mazarin’s  skill  and  prudence  once  more 
checkmated  all  the  intrigues  concocted  against  him.  When  the  news  was 
told  to  Chavigny,  in  spite  of  all  his  reasons  for  bearing  malice  against  the 
cardinal,  who  had  driven  him  from  the  council  and  kept  him  for  some  time  in 
prison,  he  exclaimed :  “  That  is  a  great  misfortune  for  the  prince  and  his 
friends ;  but  the  truth  must  be  told  ;  the  cardinal  has  done  quite  right  ;  with¬ 
out  it  he  would  have  been  ruined.”  The  contest  was  begun  between  Mazarin 
and  the  great  Conde,  and  it  was  not  with  the  prince  that  the  victory  was  to 
remain. 

Already  hostilities  were  commencing;  Mazarin  had  done  everything 
for  the  Frondeurs  who  remained  faithful  to  him,  but  the  house  of  Conde 
was  rallying  all  its  partisans ;  the  dukes  of  Bouillon  and  La  Rochefou¬ 
cauld  had  thrown  themselves  into  Bordeaux,  which  was  in  revolt  against 
the  royal  authority,  represented  by  the  duke  of  Epernon.  The  princess 
of  Conde  and  her  young  son  left  Chantilly  to  join  them ;  Madame  de 
Longueville  occupied  Stenay,  a  strong  place  belonging  to  the  prince  of 
Conde:  she  had  there  found  Turenne  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  queen 
had  just  been  through  Normandy;  all  the  towns  had  opened  their  gates 
to  her.  It  was  just  the  same  in  Burgundy ;  the  princess  of  Conde’s  able 
agent,  Lenet,  could  not  obtain  a  declaration  from  the  parliament  of  Dijon 
in  her  favor.  Bordeaux  was  the  focus  of  the  insurrection  ;  the  people, 
passionately  devoted  to  “  the  dukes,  ”  as  the  saying  was,  were  forcing  the 

hand  of  the  parliament ;  riots  were  frequent  in  the  town ;  the  little  king, 

with  the  queen  and  the  cardinal,  marched  in  person  upon  Bordeaux ; 
one  of  the  faubourgs  was  attacked,  the  dukes  negotiated  and  obtained 
a  general  amnesty,  but  no  mention  was  made  of  the  princes’  release. 
The  parliament  of  Paris  took  the  matter  up,  and  on  the  30th  of  January, 
Anne  of  Austria  sent  word  to  the  premier  president  that  she  would 
consent  to  grant  the  release  of  the  princes,  “  provided  that  the  arma¬ 
ments  of  Stenay  and  of  M.  de  Turenne  might  be  discontinued.” 

The  cardinal  saw  that  he  was  beaten ;  he  made  up  his  mind,  and 

anticipating  the  queen’s  officers,  he  hurried  to  Le  Havre  to  release  the 

prisoners  himself ;  he  entered  the  castle  alone,  the  governor  having  refused 
entrance  to  the  guards  who  attended  him. 

The  cardinal  had  slowly  taken  the  road  to  exile,  summoning  to  him 
his  nieces,  Mdlles.  Mancini  and  Martinozzi,  whom  he  had,  a  short  time 


Mademoiselle  de  MofitpetfSier  orders  the  guns  of  the  Bastile  fired  upon  the  Frondeurs 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  153. 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


153 


1657] 

since,  sent  for  to  court.  He  went  from  Normandy  into  Picardy,  made 
some  stay  at  Doullens,  and,  impelled  by  his  enemies’  hatred,  he  finally 
crossed  the  frontier  on  the  12th  of  March.  The  parliament  had  just 
issued  orders  for  his  arrest  in  any  part  of  France.  On  the  6th  of  April, 
he  fixed  his  quarters  at  Bruhl,  a  little  town  belonging  to  the  electorate 
of  Cologne,  in  the  same  territory  which  had  but  lately  sheltered  the 
last  days  of  Mary  de’  Medici. 

The  Frondeurs,  old  and  new,  had  gained  the  day;  but  even  now 
there  was  disorder  in  their  camp.  Conde  had  returned  to  the  court 
“  like  a  raging  lion,  seeking  to  devour  everybody,  and,  in  revenge  for 
his  imprisonment,  to  set  fire  to  the  four  corners  of  the  realm  ”  [ Memoires 
de  Montglat\.  He  retired  southward  and  prepared  for  war.  He  was 
opposed,  in  the  first  instance,  by  Marshal  d’Hocquincourt,  who  was  defeated 
at  Bleneau,  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  and  afterward  by  Turenne,  who, 
having  come  to  terms  with  the  court,  gained  at  Gien  a  battle  over  the 
rebels.  Both  commanders  then  marched  upon  Paris,  and  a  general  engage¬ 
ment  took  place  at  the  Porte  Saint  Antoine,  where  the  Frondeurs  remained 
victorious,  thanks  to  the  audacity  of  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  daughter 
of  Gaston,  Duke  d’Orleans.  Conde  marched  into  the  metropolis,  and  after 
attempting  vainly  to  maintain  himself  by  violence,  he  took  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  Spanish  army,  thus  disgracing  his  character  by  joining  the 
enemies  of  his  country.  The  court  then  returned  to  Paris,  punished  the 
rebels,  and  in  October,  1652,  the  Fronde  may  be  said  to  have  finished. 

It  was  now  Mazarin’s  turn  to  triumph ;  his  progress  back  to  Paris  was 
almost  regal.  The  duke  of  Orleans  retired  before  long  to  his  castle  at 
Blois,  where  he  died  in  1660,  deserted,  toward  the  end  of  his  life,  by 
all  the  friends  he  had  successively  abandoned  and  betrayed.  He  was  a 
prey  to  fear,  fear  of  his  friends  as  well  as  of  his  enemies.  The  Fronde, 
as  we  last  said,  was  all  over,  that  of  the  gentry  of  the  long  robe  as 
well  as  that  of  the  gentry  of  the  sword.  The  parliament  of  Paris  was 
once  more  falling  in  the  State  to  the  rank  which  had  been  assigned  to 
it  by  Richelieu,  and  from  which  it  had  wanted  to  emerge  by  a  supreme 
effort. 

From  1653  to  1657  Turenne,  seconded  by  Marshal  la  Ferte  and 
sometimes  by  Cardinal  Mazarin  in  person,  constantly  kept  the  Spaniards 
and  the  prince  of  Conde  in  check,  recovering  the  places  but  lately  taken 
from  France,  and  relieving  the  besieged  towns;  without  ever  engaging 
in  pitched  battles,  he  almost  always  had  the  advantage.  At  last  the 
victory  he  gained  at  the  Downs  was  productive  of  the  greatest  results ; 
Dunkerque  surrendered  immediately,  and  was  ceded  to  England  conformably 
to  an  agreement  made  between  Mazarin  and  Cromwell.  For  a  long  time 
past  the  object  of  the  cardinal’s  labors  had  been  to  terminate  the  wai 
by  an  alliance  with  Spain.  The  infanta,  Maria  Theresa,  was  no  longei 
heiress  to  the  crown,  for  King  Philip  at  last  had  a  son ;  Spain  wa<\ 
exhausted  by  long-continued  efforts,  and  dismayed  by  the  checks  received 


154 


FRANCE.— RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


[1658 


in  the  campaign  of  1658 ;  the  alliance  of  the  Rhine,  recently  concluded 
at  Frankfurt  between  the  two  leagues,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  confirmed 
immutably  the  advantages  which  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  had  secured 
to  France.  The  electors  had  just  raised  to  the  head  of  the  empire 
young  Leopold  I.,  on  the  death  of  his  father  Ferdinand  III.,  and  they 
proposed  their  mediation  between  France  and  Spain.  While  King  Philip 
IV.  was  still  hesitating,  Mazarin  took  a  step  in  another  direction ;  the 
king  set  out  for  Lyons,  accompanied  by  his  mother  and  his  minister, 
to  go  and  see  Princess  Margaret  of  Savoy,  who  had  been  proposed  to 
him  a  long  time  ago  as  his  wife.  He  was  pleased  with  her,  and  negotia¬ 
tions  were  already  pretty  far  advanced,  to  the  great  displeasure  of  the 
queen-mother,  when  the  cardinal,  on  the  29th  of  November,  1659,  in  the 
evening  entered  Anne  of  Austria’s  room.  “  He  found  her  pensive  and 
melancholy,  but  he  was  all  smiles.  ‘Good  news,  madame,’ said  he.  ‘Ah!’ 
cried  the  queen,  ‘is  it  to  be  peace?’  ‘More  than  that,  madame;  I  bring 
your  Majesty  both  peace  and  the  infanta.  ’  ”  The  Spaniards  had  become 
uneasy ;  and  Don  Antonio  de  Pimental  had  arrived  at  Lyons  at  the  same 
time  with  the  court  of  Savoy,  bearing  a  letter  from  Philip  IV.  for  the 
queen  his  sister. 

The  year  had  not  yet  rolled  away,  and  the  duchess  of  Savoy  had 
already  lost  every  atom  of  illusion.  Since  the  13th  of  August,  Cardinal 
Mazarin  had  been  officially  negotiating  with  Don  Louis  de  Haro, 
representing  Philip  IV.  The  ministers,  had  held  a  meeting  in  the  middle 
of  the  Bidassoa,  on  the  Island  of  Pheasants,  where  a  pavilion  had  been 
erected  on  the  boundary-line  between  the  two  States.  On  the  7th  of 
November,  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees  was  signed  at  last;  it  put  an  end  to 
a  war  which  had  continued  for  twenty-three  years,  often  internecine,  always 
burdensome,  and  which  had  ruined  the  finances  of  the  two  countries. 
France  was  the  gainer  of  Artois  and  Roussillon,  and  of  several  places  in 
Flanders,  Hainault  and  Luxembourg;  and  the  peace  of  Westphalia  was 
recognized  by  Spain,  to  whom  France  restored  all  that  she  held  in  Catalonia 
and  Franche-Comte.  Philip  IV.  had  refused  to  include  Portugal  in  the 
treaty.  The  infanta  received  as  dowry  five  hundred  thousand  gold  crowns, 
and  renounced  all  her  rights  to  the  throne  of  Spain ;  the  prince  of  Conde  was 
taken  back  to  favor  by  the  king,  and  declared  that  he  would  fain  redeem 
with  his  blood  all  the  hostilities  he  had  committed  in  and  out  of  France. 
The  king  restored  him  to  all  his  honors  and  dignities,  gave  him  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  Burgundy,  and  bestowed  on  his  son,  the  duke  of  Enghien,  the 
office  of  grand  master  of  France.  The  honor  of  the  king  of  Spain  was 
saved  ;  he  did  not  abandon  his  allies,  and  he  made  a  great  match  for  his 
daughter.  But  the  eyes  of  Europe  were  not  blinded;  it  was  France  that 
triumphed  ;  the  policy  of  Cardinal  Richelieu  and  of  Cardinal  Mazarin  was 
everywhere  successful.  The  work  of  Henry  IV.  was  completed  ;  the  house 
of  Au^-ria  was  humiliated  and  vanquished  in  both  its  branches  ;  the  man 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


155 


1659] 

who  had  concluded  the  peace  of  Westphalia  and  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees 
had  a  right  to  say,  “I  am  more  French  in  heart  than  in  speech.” 

Like  Cardinal  Richelieu,  Mazarin  succumbed  at  the  very  pinnacle  of 
his  glory  and  power;  he  died  of  gout  in  the  stomach,  March  9th,  1661. 


XI. 


LOUIS  IIT.-HIS  FOREIGN  POUCY,  SUCCESSES  AND 


CARCELY  was  the  minister  dead,  when  Louis  XIV.  sent 
to  summon  his  council :  Chancellor  Seguier,  Superin¬ 
tendent  Fouquet  and  secretaries  of  State  Le  Tellier,  De 
Lionne,  Brienne,  Duplessis-Guenegaud,  and  La  Vrilliere. 
Then,  addressing  the  chancellor  :  “  Sir,”  said  he,  “  I  have 
had  you  assembled  together  with  my  ministers  and  my 
secretaries  of  State  to  tell  you  that  until  now  I  have  been 
well  pleased  to  leave  my  affairs  to  be  governed  by  the  late 
cardinal  :  it  is  time  that  I  should  govern  them  myself ;  you  will 
aid  me  with  your  counsels  when  I  ask  for  them.  Beyond  the 
general  business  of  the  seal,  in  which  I  do  not  intend  to  make 
any  alteration,  I  beg  and  command  you,  Mr.  Chancellor,  to  put 
the  seal  of  authority  to  nothing  without  my  orders,  and  without 
having  spoken  to  me  thereof,  unless  a  secretary  of  State  shall 
bring  them  to  you  on  my  behalf . And  for  you,  gentle¬ 

men,”  addressing  the  secretaries  of  State,  “  I  warn  you  not  to 
sign  anything,  even  a  safety-warrant  or  passport,  without  my 
command,  to  report  every  day  to  me  personally,  and  to  favor  nobody  in  your 
monthly  rolls.  Mr.  Superintendent,  I  have  explained  to  you  my  intentions  ; 
I  beg  that  you  will  employ  the  services  of  M.  Colbert,  whom  the  late  cardinal 
recommended  to  me.”  The  king’s  councillors  were  men  of  experience  ;  and 
they  all  recognized  the  master’s  tone.  It  was  Louis  XIV. ’s  misfortune  to  be 
king  for  seventy-two  years,  and  to  reign  fifty-six  years  as  sovereign  master. 

Superintendent  Fouquet  counted  to  increase  his  influence  and  probably 
his  power  with  the  king.  Fouquet,  who  was  *born  in  1615,  and  had  been 
superintendent  of  finance  in  conjunction  with  Servien  since  1655,  had  been  in 
sole  possession  of  that  office  since  the  death  of  his  colleague  in  1659.  He 
had  faithfully  served  Cardinal  Mazarin  through  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde. 
The  latter  had  kept  him  in  power  in  spite  of  numerous  accusations  of 
malversation  and  extravagance. 

At  the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of,  the  tide  had  not  yet  set  in  against 


1 56 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


[1661 


the  surintendant ;  but  clouds  were  beginning  to  gather  on  the  horizon,  and  it 
became  evident  that  a  tremendous  catastrophe  was  at  hand.  The  magnificent 
fete  given  to  the  king  at  Vaux  by  Fouquet  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  his 
disgrace.  A  few  weeks  after  (September,  1661)  he  was  arrested,  sent  to  the 
Bastile  and  tried  on  a  double  charge  of  dilapidations  and  of  a  plot  formed 
against  the  safety  of  the  State.  The  first  ground  of  accusation  was  too  true ; 
the  second  has  never  been  proved.  After  a  trial  which  lasted  three  years, 
nine  judges  voted  for  capital  punishment  and  thirteen  for  banishment.  The 
king  passed  a  sentence  of  prison  for  life.  Fouquet  was  taken  to  Pignerol, 
and  all  his  family  removed  from  Paris.  He  died  piously  in  his  prison,  in  1680, 
a  year  before  his  venerable  mother  Marie  Maupeou,  who  was  so  deeply 
concerned  about  her  son’s  soul  at  the  very  pinnacle  of  greatness  that  she 
threw  herself  upon  her  knees  on  hearing  of  his  arrest  and  exclaimed,  “  I 
thank  Thee,  O  God  ;  I  have  always  prayed  for  his  salvation,  and  here  is  the 
way  to  it  ! 

Foreign  affairs  were  in  no  worse  hands  than  the  administration  of  finance 
and  of  war.  M.  de  Lionne  was  an  able  diplomatist,  broken  in  for  a  long 
time  past  to  important  affairs,  shrewd  and  sensible,  more  celebrated  among 
his  contemporaries  than  in  history,  always  falling  into  the  second  rank,  behind 
Mazarin  or  Louis  XIV.,  “who  have  appropriated  his  fame,”  says  M.  Mignet. 
The  negotiations  conducted  by  M.  de  Lionne  were  of  a  delicate  nature. 
Louis  XIV.  had  never  renounced  the  rights  of  the  queen  to  the  succession  in 
Spain  ;  King  Philip  IV.  had  not  paid  his  daughter’s  dowry,  he  said ;  the 
French  ambassador  at  Madrid,,  the  archbishop  of  Embrun,  was  secretly 
negotiating  to  obtain  a  revocation  of  Maria  Theresa’s  renunciation,  or  at  the 
very  least  a  recognition  of  the  right  of  devolution  over  the  Catholic  Low 
Countries.  This  strange  custom  of  Hainault  secured  to  the  children  of  the 
first  marriage  succession  to  the  paternal  property  to  the  exclusion  of  the  off¬ 
spring  of  the  second  marriage.  Louis  XIV.  claimed  the  application  of  it  to 
the  advantage  of  the  queen  his  wife,  daughter  of  Elizabeth  of  France. 

In  this  view  and  with  these  prospects,  he  needed  the  alliance  of  the 
Hollanders,  and  had  remained  faithful  to  the  policy  of  Henry  IV.  and 
Richelieu  when  Philip  IV.  died  on  the  17th  of  September,  1665.  Almost  at 
the  same  time  the  dissension  between  England  and  Holland,  after  a  period  of 
tacit  hostility,  broke  out  into  action.  The  United  Provinces  claimed  the  aid 
of  France.  Louis  XIV.  took  the  field  in  the  month  of  May,  1667.  The 
Spaniards  were  unprepared.  Audenarde  was  taken  in  two  days ;  and  the 
king  laid  siege  to  Lille.  Vauban,  already  celebrated  as  an  engineer,  traced 
out  the  lines,  of  circumvallatioir ;  the  burgesses  forced  the  garrison  to 
capitulate  ;  and  Louis  XIV.  entered  the  town  on  the  27th  of  August,  after 
ten  days’  open  trenches.  This  first  campaign  had  been  nothing  but  playing  at 
war,  almost  entirely  without  danger  or  bloodshed  ;  it  had,  nevertheless,  been 
sufficient  to  alarm  Europe.  Scarcely  had  peace  been  concluded  at  Breda, 
when,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1668,  the  celebrated  treaty  of  the  Triple 
Alliance  was  signed  at  the  Hague  between  England,  Holland  and  Sweden. 


16/2] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


157 


At  bottom,  the  Triple  Alliance  was  resolved  to  protect  helpless  Spain  against 
France  ;  a  secret  article  bound  the  three  allies  to  take  up  arms  to  restrain 
Louis  XIV.,  and  to  bring  him  back,  if  possible,  to  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees. 
At  the  same  moment,  Portugal  was  making  peace  with  Spain,  who  recognized 
her  independence. 

The  king  refused  the  long  armistice  demanded  of  him  :  “  I  will  grant  it 
up  to  the  31st  of  March,”  he  had  said,  “being  unwilling  to  miss  the  first 
opportunity  of  taking  the  field.”  The  marquis  of  Castel-Rodrigo  made 
merry  over  this  proposal  :  “  I  am  content,”  said  he,  “  with  the  suspension  of 

arms  that  winter  imposes  upon  the  king  of  France.”  The  governor  of  the 
Low  Countries  made  a  mistake  :  in  the  midst  of  winter,  after  having 
concentrated  from  all  parts  of  France  ninety  thousand  men  at  Dijon,  the  king 
threw  himself  upon  the  Spanish  possessions  in  Franche-Comte,  carried 
Besangon  in  two  days,  Dole  in  four,  and  the  whole  province  in  three  weeks. 
Louis  XIV.,  satisfied  with  the  brilliant  results  of  his  expedition  and  not 
wishing  to  compromise  it,  signed  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (May  2d). 
According  to  the  terms  of  that  agreement,  Spain  abandoned  to  France  all  her 
conquests  in  the  North,  together  with  the  towns  of  Bergues  and  Furnes  on 
the  sea-coast  ;  France  restored  Franche-Comte,  but  after  having  destroyed  the 
fortifications  which  protected  it,  and  reduced  it  to  a  defenseless  state.  By  so 
doing,  Louis  XIV.  was  further  enabled  to  gain  the  time  he  required  for  the 
preparation  of  the  campaign  which  he  meditated  against  Holland. 

In  the  mean  while  Sweden  had  joined  the  side  of  France  ;  through  the 
mediation  of  Henrietta  of  England,  duchess  of  Orleans,  and  sister  of  Charles 
II.,  this  monarch  had  taken  the  same  resolution  ;  and  finally  the  league  was 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  the  emperor  and  of  the  princes  of  the 
confederation  of  the  Rhine  (1672). 

At  length,  when  everything  was  ready,  Louis  XIV.,  at  the  head  of  one 
hundred  thousand  men,  crossed  the  Rhine  without  obstacle,  marching  straight 
into  the  very  heart  of  Holland.  Rheinberg,  Wesel,  Burick,  and  Orsoy, 
attacked  at  once,  did  not  hold  out  four  days.  On  the  12th  of  June  the  king 
and  the  prince  of  Conde  appeared  unexpectedly  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
intermediary  branch  of  the  Rhine,  between  the  Wahal  and  the  Yssel.  The 
Hollanders  were  expecting  the  enemy  at  the  ford  of  the  Yssel,  being  more 
easy  to  pass ;  they  were  taken  by  surprise  ;  the  king’s  cuirassier  regiment 
dashed  into  the  river  and  crossed  it  partly  by  fording  and  partly  by  swim¬ 
ming  ;  the  resistance  was  brief.  Meanwhile  the  duke  of  Longueville  was 
killed  and  the  prince  of  Conde  was  wounded  for  the  first  time  in  his  life.  “  I 
was  present  at  the  passage,  which  was  bold,  vigorous,  full  of  brilliancy  and 
glorious  for  the  nation,”  writes  Louis  XIV.  Arnheim  and  Deventer  had  just 
surrendered  to  Turenne  and  Luxembourg;  Duisbourg  resisted  the  king  for  a 
few  days;  Monsieur  was  besieging  Zutphen.  John  van  Witt  was  for 
evacuating  the  Hague  and  removing  to  Amsterdam  the  center  of  government 
and  resistance  ;  the  prince  of  Orange  had  just  abandoned  the  province  of 
Utrecht,  which  was  immediately  occupied  by  the  French;  the  defensive 


158 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


[1673 


efforts  were  concentrated  upon  the  province  of  Holland  ;  already  Naarden, 
three  leagues  from  Amsterdam,  was  in  the  king’s  hands.  A  deputation  from 
the  States  was  sent  on  the  22d  of  June  to  the  king’s  head-quarters  to  demand 
peace.  Louis  XIV.  had  just  entered  Utrecht,  which,  finding  itself  abandoned, 
opened  its  gates  to  him.  On  the  same  day,  John  van  Witt  received  in  a 
street  of  the  Hague  four  stabs  with  a  dagger  from  the  hand  of  an  assassin, 
while  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  but  lately  resolved  to  surrender  and  prepared 
to  send  its  magistrates  as  delegates  to  Louis  XIV.,  suddenly  decided  upon 
resistance  to  the  bitter  end. 

The  States-general  decided  to  “  reject  the  hard  and  intolerable  conditions 
proposed  by  their  lordships  the  kings  of  France  and  Great  Britain,  and  to 
-defend  this  State  and  its  inhabitants  with  all  their  might.”  The  province  of 
Holland  in  its  entirety  followed  the  example  of  Amsterdam  ;  the  dikes  were 
everywhere  broken  down,  at  the  same  time  that  the  troops  of  the  electors  of 
Brandenburg  and  Saxony  were  advancing  to  the  aid  of  the  United  Provinces, 
and  that  the  emperor  was  signing  with  those  two  princes  a  defensive  alliance 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  treaties  of  Westphalia,  the  Pyrenees  and  Aix-la- 
Chapelle.  The  murder  of  the  brothers  Van  Witt  was  an  act  of  wanton  cruelty 
and  of  brutal  ingratitude  ;  the  instinct  of  the  people  of  Holland,  however, 
saw  clearly  into  the  situation.  John  van  Witt  would  have  failed  in  the 
struggle  against  France;  William  of  Orange,  prince,  politician  and  soldier, 
saved  his  country  and  Europe  from  the  yoke  of  Louis  XIV. 

Louis  XIV.  saw  the  danger.  “  So  many  enemies,”  says  he  in  his 
Memoir es,  “  obliged  me  to  take  care  of  myself,  and  think  what  I  must  do  to 
maintain  the  reputation  of  my  arms,  the  advantage  of  my  dominions  and  my 
personal  glory.”  It  was  in  Franche-Comte  that  Louis  XIV.  went  to  seek  these 
advantages.  The  whole  province  was  reduced  to  submission  in  the  month  of 
June,  1674.  Turenne  had  kept  the  Rhine  against  the  Imperialists;  the 
marshal  alone  escaped  the  tyranny  of  the  king  and  Louvois,  and  presumed  to 
conduct  the  campaign  in  his  own  way.  Conde  had  gained  on.  the  nth  of 
Au  gust  the  bloody  victory  of  Seneffe  over  the  prince  of  Orange  and  the 
allied  generals.  Advantages  remained  balanced  in  Flanders ;  the  result  of  the 
campaign  depended  on  Turenne,  who  commanded  on  the  Rhine.  On  the 
16th  of  June,  he  engaged  in  battle  at  Sinzheim  with  the  duke  of  Lorraine, 
who  was  coming  up  with  the  advance  guard.  He  subsequently  entered  the 
palatinate,  quartering  his  troops  upon  it,  while  the  superintendents  sent  by 
Louvois  were  burning  and  plundering  the  country,  crushed  as  it  was  under 
war-contributions.  The  king  and  Louvois  were  disquieted  by  the  movement 
of  the  enemy’s  troops,  and  wanted  to  get  Turenne  back  into  Lorraine.  On 
the  20th  of  September,  the  burgesses  of  the  free  city  of  Strasburg  delivered 
up  the  bridge  over  the  Rhine  to  the  Imperialists  who  were  in  the  heart  of 
Alsace.  The  victory  of  Ensheim,  the  fights  of  Miilhausen  and  Turckheim, 
sufficed  to  drive  them  back;  but  it  was  only  on  the  22d  of  January,  1675, 
that  Turenne  was  at  last  enabled  to  leave  Alsace  reconquered. 

The  coalition  was  proceeding  slowly;  the  prince  of  Orange  was  ill  ;  the 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


159 


1677] 

king  made  himself  master  of  the  citadel  of  LRge  and  some  small  places. 
Limburg  surrendered  to  the  prince  of  Cond6  without  the  allies  having  been 
able  to  relieve  it.  In  June,  1675,  Turenne  returned  to  his  army;  he  invaded 
once  more  the  palatinate,  and  was  opposed  by  Montecuculli,  a  general  who, 
ten  years  before,  had  defeated  the  Turks  at  the  battle  of  Saint-Gothard,  and 
who  was  considered  a  consummate  tactician.  For  six  weeks  the  two 
commanders  observed  and  followed  one  another,  and  their  reputation  was 
much  increased  by  the  proof  they  thus  give  of  strategic  skill.  At  last,  they 
were  on  the  point  of  fighting,  near  the  village  of  Sassbach,  on  a  spot  which 
Turenne  had  selected,  and  where  he  made  sure  of  being  victorious,  when  the 
marshal,  while  observing  the  position  of  a  battery,  was  killed  by  a  cannon¬ 
ball,  which  carried  off  likewise  the  arm  of  Saint-Hilaire,  lieutenant-general  of 
the  artillery  (July  27th,  1675).  His  death  was,  for  France,  a  public  calamity. 

Europe  demanded  a  general  peace  ;  England  and  Holland  desired  it 
passionately.  “  I  am  as  anxious  as  you  for  an  end  to  be  put  to  the  war,”  said 
the  prince  of  Orange  to  the  deputies  from  the  estates,  “  provided  that  I  get 
out  of  it  with  honor.”  He  refused  obstinately  to  separate  from  his  allies. 
William  had  just  married  (November  15th,  1677)  the  Princess  Mary,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  York  and  Anne  Hyde.  An  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive  between  England  and  Holland  was  the  price  of  this  union,  which 
struck  Louis  XIV.  an  unexpected  blow.  He  had  lately  made  a  proposal  to 
the  prince  of  Orange  to  marry  one  of  his  natural  daughters.  “  The  first 
notice  I  had  of  the  marriage,”  wrote  the  king,  “  was  through  the  bonfires 
lighted  in  London.”  “The  loss  of  a  decisive  battle  could  not  have  scared 
the  king  of  France  more,”  said  the  English  ambassador,  Lord  Montagu.  For 
more  than  a  year  past  negotiations  had  been  going  on  at  Nimeguen  ;  Louis 
XIV.  resolved  to  deal  one  more  great  blow. 

The  campaign  of  1676  had  been  insignificant,  save  at  sea.  John  Bart,  a 
corsair  of  Dunkerque,  scoured  the  seas  and  made  foreign  commerce  tremble  ; 
he  took  ships  by  boarding,  and  killed  with  his  own  hands  the  Dutch  captain 
of  the  Neptune,  who  offered  resistance.  Messina,  in  revolt  against  the 
Spaniards,  had  given  herself  up  to  France;  the  duke  of  Vivonne,  brother  of 
Madame  de  Montespan,  who  had  been  sent  thither  as  governor,  had  extended 
his  conquests  ;  Duquesne,  quite  young  still,  had  triumphantly  maintained 
the  glory  of  France  against  the  great  Ruyter,  who  had  been  mortally 
wounded  off  Catana  on  the  21st  of  April.  But  already  the  possession  of 
Sicily  was  becoming  precarious,  and  these  distant  successes  had  paled  before 
the  brilliant  campaign  of  1677;  the  capture  of  Valenciennes,  Cambrai,  and 
St.  Omer,  the  defense  of  Lorraine,  the  victory  of  Cassel  gained  over  the 
prince  of  Orange,  had  confirmed  the  king  in  his  intentions.  Ghent  was 
invested  by  the  French  on  the  1st  of  March  and  capitulated  on  the  nth; 
Ypres  in  its  turn  succumbed  on  the  25th  after  a  vigorous  resistance.  Louis 
XIV.  sent  his  ultimatum  to  Nimeguen. 

On  the  10th  of  August,  in  the  evening,  the  special  peace  between 
Holland  and  France  was  signed  after  twenty-four  hours’  conference.  The 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


[1680 


160 

prince  of  Orange  had  concentrated  all  his  forces  near  Mons,  confronting 
Marshal  Luxembourg,  who  occupied  the  plateau  of  Casteau ;  he  had  no 
official  news  as  yet  from  Nimeguen,  and,  on  the  14th,  he  began  the 
engagement  outside  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis.  The  affair  was  a  very  murderous 
one  and  remained  indecisive ;  it  did  more  honor  to  the  military  skill  of  the 
prince  of  Orange  than  to  his  loyalty.  Holland  had  not  lost  an  inch  of  her 
territory  during  this  war,  so  long,  so  desperate,  and  notoriously  undertaken 
in  order  to  destroy  her  ;  she  had  spent  much  money,  she  had  lost  many  men, 
she  had  shaken  the  confidence  of  her  allies  by  treating  alone  and  being  the 
first  to  treat,  but  she  had  furnished  a  chief  to  the  European  coalition,  and 
she  had  shown  an  example  of  indomitable  resistance ;  the  States-general  and 
the  prince  of  Orange  alone,  besides  Louis  XIV.,  came  the  greater  out  of  the 
struggle.  The  king  of  England  had  lost  all  consideration  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  Spain  paid  all  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

Peace  was  concluded  on  the  17th  of  September,  thanks  to  the  energetic 
intervention  of  the  Hollanders. 

It  still  required  a  successful  campaign  under  Marshal  Crequi  to  bring 
the  emperor  and  the  German  princes  over  to  peace ;  exchanges  of  territory 
and  indemnities  re-established  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  on  all  essential 
points.  The  duke  of  Lorraine  refused  the  conditions  on  which  the  king  pro¬ 
posed  to  restore  to  him  his  duchy;  so  Louis  XIV.  kept  Lorraine. 

The  king  of  France  was  at  the  pinnacle  of  his  greatness  and  power. 
“  Singly  against  all,”  as  Louvois  said,  he  had  maintained  the  struggle  against 
Europe,  and  he  came  out  of  it  victorious ;  everywhere,  with  good  reason,  was 
displayed  his  proud  device,  Nec  pluribus  impar .  The  prince  of  Orange 
regarded  the  peace  of  Nimeguen  as  a  truce,  and  a  truce  fraught  with  danger 
to  Europe.  For  that  reason  did  he  soon  seek  to  form  alliances  in  order  to 
secure  the  repose  of  the  world  against  the  insatiable  ambition  of  King  Louis 
XIV.  While  all  the  contending  parties  disbanded  their  troops,  Louis  XIV. 
alone  took  advantage  of  the  situation  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  his 
power  by  means  which  were  very  little  short  of  actual  warfare.  By  virtue  of 
the  last  arrangements  he  had  obtained  the  surrender  of  a  certain  number  of 
towns  and  districts  together  with  their  dependencies .  In  order  to  ascertain 
what  these  dependencies  were,  he  established  at  Tournay,  at  Metz,  at  Brisach 
and  at  Besangon  special  courts,  known  as  chambres  de  reunion ,  because  their 
business  was  to  reunite  to  France  certain  territories  alleged  to  have  been 
dismembered  from  the  cities  of  Flanders,  Alsace,  Troistvechts,  and  Franche- 
Comte.  Some  German  princes,  the  elector  palatine,  and  the  king  of  Spain 
were  obliged  to  appear  by  deputy  and  make  their  respective  titles  good ; 
and  sentences  supported  by  force  gave  to  Louis  XIV.  twenty  important 
military  positions  which  Vauban  fortified,  thus  making  the  strongest  barrier 
of  the  kingdom  on  the  Rhenish  frontier  (1681).  In  Italy,  Louis  XIV. 
purchased  Casal  in  the  Montferrate  from  the  duke  of  Mantua,  in  order  to 
command  the  north  of  the  peninsula  and  Piedmont,  which  he  was  already  in 
a  certain  sense  master  of  by  the  possession  of  Pignerol. 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


1 6 1 


1689] 

He  was,  however,  himself  about  to  deal  his  own  kingdom  a  blow  more 
fatal  than  all  those  of  foreign  wars  and  of  the  European  coalition.  He  had 
been  carrying  matters  with  a  very  high  hand  in  other  quarters.  The  strong¬ 
hold  of  the  Algerian  pirates  was  twice  bombarded  by  Duquesne  (1683)  ;  the 
republic  of  Genoa,  which  had  supplied  them  with  arms  and  ships,  found  itself 
compelled  to  make  amende  honorable  in  the  person  of  the  doge,  who,  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  the  State,  came  to  Versailles  (1685).  Pope  Innocent  XI. 
himself  incurred  the  resentment  of  the  king  for  attempting  to  abolish  the 
right  of  asylum  which  the  French  ambassadors  had  till  then  enjoyed  in  Rome 
(1687).  The  glory  of  Louis  XIV.  seemed  to  extend  to  the  remotest  limits  of 
the  known  world,  and  the  king  of  Siam  sent  to  Versailles  an  embassy  which 
created,  at  the  time,  the  greatest  sensation.  He  set  at  naught  all  the  rights 
consecrated  by  edicts,  and  the  long  patience  of  those  Protestants  whom 
Mazarin  called  “  the  faithful  flock ;  ”  in  vain  had  persecution  been  tried  for 
several  years  past;  tyranny  interfered,  and  the  edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked 
on  the  13th  of  October,  1685.  Some  years  later,  the  reformers,  by  hundreds 
of  thousands,  carried  into  foreign  lands  their  industries,  their  wealth  and  their 
bitter  resentments.  Protestant  Europe,  indignant,  opened  her  doors  to  these 
martyrs  to  conscience,  living  witnesses  of  the  injustice  and  arbitrary  power  of 
Louis  XIV.  All  the  princes  felt  themselves  at  the  same  time  insulted  and 
threatened  in  respect  of  their  faith  as  well  as  of  their  puissance.  In  the  early 
months  of  1686,  the  league  of  Augsburg  united  all  the  German  princes, 
Holland  and  Sweden  ;  Spain  and  .the  duke  of  Savoy  were  not  slow  to  join  it. 
In  1687,  the  diet  of  Ratisbonne  refused  to  convert  the  twenty  years’  truce 
into  a  definitive  peace.  By  his  haughty  pretensions  the  king  gave  to  the 
coalition  the  support  of  Pope  Innocent  XI. ;  Louis  XIV.  was  once  more 
single-handed  against  all,  when  he  invaded  the  electorate  of  Cologne  in  the 
month  of  August,  1686.  Philipsburg,  lost  by  France  in  1676,  was  recovered 
on  the  29th  of  October;  at  the  end  of  the  campaign,  the  king’s  armies  were 
masters  of  the  palatinate.  In  the  month  of  January,  1689,  war  was  officially 
declared  against  Holland,  the  emperor  and  the  empire.  The  command-in¬ 
chief  of  the  French  forces  was  entrusted  to  the  dauphin,  then  twenty-six 
years  of  age. 

The  dauphin  was  already  tasting  the  pleasures  of  conquest,  and  the 
coalition  had  not  stirred.  They  were  awaiting  their  chief  ;  William  of  Orange 
was  fighting  for  them  in  the  very  act  of  taking  possession  of  the  kingdom  of 
England.  (See  History  of  England.)  On  the  Rhine,  the  dauphin,  at  the 
head  of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  with  the  assistance  of  Marshal  de  Duras, 
took  Philipsburg,  Worms,  Manheim,  and  by  the  order  of  Louvois  the 
palatinate  was  once  more  subjected  to  all  the  horrors  of  wholesale  destruction 
by  sword  and  fire.  This  piece  of  unwarrantable  atrocity  is  said  to  have  been 
the  cause  of  Louvois’s  disgrace,  who  died  shortly  afterward. 

In  Italy  Catinat  kept  his  ground  against  Victor-Amadeus,  duke  of  Savoy, 
and  against  prince  Eugene,  who,  in  consequence  of  an  act  of  injustice  on  the 
part  of  Louis  XIV.,  had  joined  the  enemy.  The  French  general  defeated  the 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


[1690 


162 

allies  at  Staffarde,  and  three  years  afterward  at  Marsaglia ;  but  compelled  as 
he  was  to  see  his  foot-soldiers  withdrawn  from  his  command  for  the  purpose 
of  strengthening  other  divisions  of  the  French  army  he  was  himself  obliged 
merely  to  keep  the  defensive. 

The  most  brilliant  episodes  of  the  war  took  place  in  the  Netherlands. 
Luxembourg,  whose  military  talents  and  whose  energy  have  often  caused  him 
to  be  compared  with  Conde,  defeated  the  prince  of  Waldeck  at  Fleurus  (1690), 
then  took  possession  of  Mons  under  the  eyes  of  William  III.,  who  had  come 
from  Ireland  on  purpose  to  relieve  the  town,  and  finally  made  himself  master 
of  Namur  during  the  following  campaign  (1692).  The  battle  of  Steinkirk  was 
an  act  of  skill  which  reflected  the  greatest  credit  upon  Marshal  Luxembourg. 
Exhausted  by  the  fatigues  of  war  and  the  pleasures  of  the  court,  he  died  on 
the  4th  of  January,  1695,  at  sixty-seven  years  of  age. 

By  detaching  the  duke  of  Savoy  from  the  coalition,  Louis  XIV.  struck  a 
fatal  blow  at  the  great  alliance  :  the  campaign  of  1696  in  Germany  and  in 
Flanders  had  resolved  itself  into  mere  observations  and  insignificant  engage¬ 
ments ;  Holland  and  England  were  exhausted,  and  their  commerce  was 
ruined  ;  in  vain  did  parliament  vote  fresh  and  enormous  supplies. 

There  was  no  less  cruel  want  in  France.  “  I  calculate  that  in  these  latter 
days  more  than  a  tenth  part  of  the  people,”  said  Vauban,  “are  reduced  to 
beggary,  and  in  fact  beg.”  Sweden  had  for  a  long  time  been  proffering  media¬ 
tion  ;  conferences  began  on  the  9th  of  May,  1697,  at  Nieuburg,  a  castle  belong¬ 
ing  to  William  III.,  near  the  village  of  Ryswick.  Three  great  halls  opened 
one  into  another;  the  French  and  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  coalition  of 
princes  occupied  the  two  wings,  the  mediators  sat  in  the  center.  Before 
arriving  at  Ryswick,  the  most  important  points  of  the  treaty  between  France 
and  William  III.  were  already  settled. 

On  the  27th  of  July  a  preliminary  deed  was  signed  between  Marshal 
Boufflers  and  Bentinck,  earl  of  Portland,  the  intimate  friend  of  King  William; 
the  latter  left  the  army  and  retired  to  his  castle  of  Loo ;  there  it  was  that  he 
heard  of  the  capture  of  Barcelona  by  the  duke  of  Vendome;  Spain,  which  had 
hitherto  refused  to  take  part  in  the  negotiations,  lost  all  courage  and  loudly 
demanded  peace,  but  France  withdrew  her  concessions  on  the  subject  of 
Strasburg,  and  proposed  to  give  as  equivalent  Friburg  in  Brisgau  and  Brisach. 
William  III.  did  not  hesitate.  Heinsius  signed  the  peace  in  the  name  of  the 
States-general  on  the  20th  of  September  at  midnight ;  the  English  and  Span¬ 
ish  plenipotentiaries  did  the  same ;  the  emperor  and  the  empire  were  alone  in 
still  holding  out :  the  Emperor  Leopold  made  pretensions  to  regulate  in 
advance  the  Spanish  succession,  and  the  Protestant  princes  refused  to  accept 
the  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  worship  in  all  the  places  in  which  Louis  XIV. 
had  restored  it. 

Here  again  the  will  of  William  III.  prevailed  over  the  irresolution  of  his 
allies.  For  the  first  time  since  Cardinal  Richelieu,  France  moved  back  her 
frontiers  by  the  signature  of  a  treaty.  She  had  gained  the  important  place 
of  Strasburg,  but  she  lost  nearly  all  she  had  won  by  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen 


1704] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


163 

in  the  Low  Countries  and  in  Germany;  she  kept  Franche-Comt£,  but  she  gave 
up  Lorraine.  Louis  XIV.  had  wanted  to  aggrandize  himself  at  any  price  and 
at  any  risk  ;  he  was  now  obliged  to  precipitately  break  up  the  grand  alliance, 
for  King  Charles  II.  was  slowly  dying  at  Madrid,  and  the  Spanish  succession 
was  about  to  open. 

The  competitors  for  the  succession  were  numerous ;  the  king  of  France 
and  the  emperor  claimed  their  rights  in  the  name  of  their  mothers  and  wives, 
daughters  of  Philip  III.  and  Philip  IV.;  the  elector  of  Bavaria  put  up  the 
claims  of  his  son  by  right  of  his  mother,  Mary  Antoinette  of  Austria,  daughter 
of  the  emperor;  for  a  short  time  Charles  II.  had  adopted  this  young  prince; 
the  child  died  suddenly  at  Madrid  in  1699.  The  persons  most  interested  in 
the  succession  had  not  thought  proper  either  to  obtain  the  king’s  consent  or 
to  wait  for  his  demise  before  dividing  his  possessions  between  themselves ; 
they  had  even  made  a  partition  twice,  and  had  satisfied  none  of  the  claimants. 
Charles  was  informed  of  this  unwarrantable  arrangement,  and  under  the 
impressions  of  disgust  which  it  excited  in  him,  he  named  as  his  successor 
Philip,  Duke  d’Anjou,  grandson  of  Louis  XIV. 

To  triumph  over  such  formidable  opponents  Louis  XIV.  would  have 
required  the  illustrious  generals  of  the  preceding  generation,  but  they  were 
either  dead  or  worn  out,  and  the  heavy  atmosphere  of  Versailles  produced 
none  that  could  continue  their  work.  Like  a  soil  which  has  given  too  luxuri¬ 
ant  a  crop,  France  was  becoming  exhausted,  and  the  king  was  on  the  point  of 
seeing  soldiers  failing  just  as  much  as  generals  and  cabinet  ministers.  The 
inefficient  Chamillard,  the  creature  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  gave  way  under 
the  double  weight  of  the  treasury  and  the  war  administration,  which  Colbert 
and  Louvois  had  divided  between  themselves.  Louis  XIV.  thought  he  would 
counteract  Chamillard’s  weakness  by  directing  him,  and  never  indeed  did  he 
show  more  activity.  But  here,  too,  obstacles  of  another  kind  arrested  him. 
He  had  no  experience  of  either  men  or  things;  he  hampered  his  generals 
with  directions  which  they  were  to  observe  punctually  and  which  often  Brought 
about  the  worst  results.  And  yet  some  of  the  commanders  whom  France 
had  still,  Villars,  Catinat,  Boufflers,  Vendome,  deserved  more  confidence  and 
greater  liberty  of  action.  It  is  true  that  men  like  Villeroi,  Marsin,  Tallard, 
La  Feuillade,  required  advice  and  the  assistance  of  trustworthy  guides,  but 
the  fact  of  keeping  them  in  leading  strings  did  not  prevent  them  from  inflict' 
ing  irreparable  disasters  upon  the  French  arms. 

The  campaigns  of  1702  and  1703  had  shown  Marlborough  to  be  a  prudent 
and  bold  soldier,  fertile  in  resources  and  novel  conceptions ;  and  those  had 
earned  him  the  thanks  of  parliament  and  the  title  of  duke.  The  campaign  of 
1704  established  his  glory  upon  the  misfortunes  of  France.  Marshals  Tallard 
and  Marsin  were  commanding  in  Germany  together  with  the  elector  of  Bava¬ 
ria ;  the  emperor,  threatened  with  a  fresh  insurrection  in  Hungary,  recalled 
Prince  Eugene  from  Italy;  Marlborough  effected  a  junction  with  him  by  a 
rapid  march,  which  Marshal  Villeroi  would  fain  have  hindered,  but  to  no 
purpose;  on  the  13th  of  August,  1704,  the  hostile  armies  met  between  Blen- 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


[1704 


heim  and  Hochstett,  near  the  Danube ;  the  forces  were  about  equal,  but  on 
the  French  side  the  counsels  were  divided,  the  various  corps  acted  indepem 
dently.  Tallard  sustained  single-handed  the  attack  of  the  English  and  the 
Dutch  commanded  by  Marlborough  ;  he  was  made  prisoner,  his  son  was  killed 
at  his  side ;  the  cavalry,  having  lost  their  leader  and  being  pressed  by  the 
enemy,  took  to  flight  in  the  direction  of  the  Danube ;  many  officers  and 
soldiers  perished  in  the  river ;  the  slaughter  was  awful.  Marsin  and  the 
elector,  who  had  repulsed  five  successive  charges  of  Prince  Eugene,  succeeded 
in  effecting  their  retreat ;  but  the  electorates  of  Bavaria  and  Cologne  were 
lost,  Landau  was  recovered  by  the  allies  after  a  siege  of  two  months,  the 
French  army  recrossed  the  Rhine,  Alsace  was  uncovered  and  Germany  evac¬ 
uated. 

The  king’s  personal  attachment  to  Marshal  Villeroi  blinded  him  as  to  his 
military  talents.  Beaten  in  Italy  by  Prince  Eugene,  Villeroi,  as  presumptuous 
as  he  was  incapable,  hoped  to  retrieve  himself  against  Marlborough.  There 
had  been  eight  hours’  fighting  at  Hochstett,  inflicting  much  damage  upon  the 
enemy  ;  at  Ramifies,  the  Bavarians  took  to  their  heels  at  the  end  of  an  hour; 
the  French,  who  felt  that  they  were  badly  commanded,  followed  their  exam¬ 
ple  ;  the  rout  was  terrible  and  the  disorder  inexpressible.  Villeroi  kept 
recoiling  before  the  enemy,  Marlborough  kept  advancing ;  two-thirds  of 
Belgium  and  sixteen  strong  places  were  lost,  when  Louis  XIV.  sent  Chamil- 
lard  into  the  Low  Countries ;  it  was  no  longer  the  time  when  Louvois  made 
armies  spring  from  the  very  soil,  and  when  Vauban  prepared  the  defense  of 
Dunkerque.  The  king  recalled  Villeroi,  showing  him  to  the  last  unwavering 
kindness.  “There  is  no  more  luck  at  our  age,  marshal,”  was  all  he  said  to 
Villeroi  on  his  arrival  at  Versailles.  The  king  summoned  Vendome,  to  place 
him  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  Flanders,  “  in  hopes  of  restoring  to  it  the  spirit 
of  vigor  and  audacity  natural  to  the  French  nation,”  as  he  himself  says.  For 
two  years  past,  amid  a  great  deal  of  ill-success,  Vendome  had  managed  to 
keep  in  check  Victor  Amadeo  and  Prince  Eugene,  in  spite  of  the  embarrass¬ 
ment  caused  him  by  his  brother,  the  grand  prior,  the  duke  of  La  Feuillade, 
Chamillard’s  son-in-law,  and  the  orders  which  reached  him  directly  from  the 
king :  he  had  gained  during  his  two  campaigns  the  name  of  taker  of  towns, 
and  had  just  beaten  the  Austrians  in  the  battle  of  Cascinato.  Prince  Eugene 
had,  however,  crossed  the  Adige  and  the  Po  when  Vendome  left  Italy;  he 
effected  his  junction  with  Victor  Amadeo,  encountered  and  defeated  the 
French  army  between  the  rivers  Doria  and  Stora.  Marsin  was  killed,  discour¬ 
agement  spread  among  the  generals  and  the  troops,  and  the  siege  of  Turin 
was  raised ;  before  the  end  of  the  year  nearly  all  the  places  were  lost,  and 
Dauphiny  was  threatened.  Victor  Amadeo  refused  to  listen  to  a  special  peace  ; 
in  the  month  of  March,  1707,  the  prince  of  Vaudemont,  governor  of  Milaness 
for  the  king  of  Spain,  signed  a  capitulation  at  Mantua,  and  led  back  to  France 
the  troops  which  still  remained  to  him.  The  Imperialists  were  masters  of 
Naples.  Spain  no  longer  had  any  possessions  in  Italy. 

Philip  V.  had  been  threatened  with  the  loss  of  Spain  as  well  as  of  Italy. 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


165 


1707] 

For  two  years  past  Archduke  Charles,  under  the  title  of  Charles  III.,  had, 
with  the  support  of  England  and  Portugal,  been  disputing  the  crown  with  the 
young  king.  Philip  V.  had  lost  Catalonia  and  had  just  failed  in  his  attempt 
to  retake  Barcelona;  the  road  to  Madrid  was  cut  off,  the  army  was  obliged  to 
make  its  way  by  Roussillon  and  Bearn  to  resume  the  campaign ;  the  king 
threw  himself  in  person  into  his  capital,  whither  he  was  escorted  by  Marshal 
Berwick,  a  natural  son  of  James  II.,  a  Frenchman  by  choice,  full  of  courage 
and  resolution,  “  but  a  great  stick  of  an  Englishman,  who  hadn’t  a  word  to 
say,”  and  who  was  distasteful  to  the  young  queen  Marie-Louise.  Philip  V. 
could  not  remain  at  Madrid,  which  was  threatened  by  the  enemy  ;  he  removed 
to  Burgos  ;  the  English  entered  the  capital  and  there  proclaimed  Charles  III. 

This  was  too  much ;  Spain  could  not  let  herself  submit  to  have  an 
Austrian  king  imposed  upon  her  by  heretics  and  Portuguese  ;  the  campaign 
of  1707  was  signalized  in  Spain  by  the  victory  of  Almanza,  gained  on  the  13th 
of  April  by  Marshal  Berwick  over  the  Anglo-Portuguese  army,  and  by  the 
capture  of  Lerida,  which  capitulated  on  the  nth  of  November  into  the  hands 
of  the  duke  of  Orleans.  In  Germany,  Villars  drove  back  the  enemy  from  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine,  advanced  into  Suabiaand  ravaged  the  palatinate,  crushing 
the  country  with  requisitions,  of  which  he  openly  reserved  a  portion  for 
himself. 

The  invasion  of  Provence  by  Victor  Amadeo  and  Prince  Eugene,  their 
check  before  Toulon  and  their  retreat,  precipitated  by  the  rising  of  the 
peasants,  had  irritated  the  allies  ;  the  attempts  at  negotiation  which  the  king 
had  entered  upon  at  the  Hague  remained  without  result  ;  the  duke  of 
Burgundy  took  the  command  of  the  armies  of  Flanders  with  Vendome  for  his 
second.  On  the  5th  of  July,  Ghent  was  surprised;  Vendome  had  intelligence 
inside  the  place,  the  Belgians  were  weary  of  their  new  masters  ;  Bruges 
opened  its  gates  to  the  French.  Prince  Eugene  advanced  to  second  Marlbor¬ 
ough,  but  he  was  late  in  starting;  the  troops  of  the  elector  of  Bavaria 
harassed  his  march.  The  English  encountered  the  French  army  in  front  of 
Audenarde.  The  engagement  began.  Vendome,  who  commanded  the  right 
wing,  sent  word  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  The  latter  hesitated  and  delayed  ; 
the  generals  about  him  did  not  approve  of  Vendome’s  movement.  He 
fought  single-handed,  and  was  beaten.  Prince  Eugene  and  the  duke  of 
Marlborough  laid  siege  to  Lille,  which  was  defended  by  old  Marshal 
Boufflers,  the  bravest  and  the  most  respected  of  all  the  king’s  servants.  Lille 
was  not  relieved,  and  fell  on  the  25th  of  October;  the  citadel  held  out  until 
the  9th  of  December  ;  the  king  heaped  rewards  on  Marshal  Boufflers  ;  at  the 
march  out  from  Lille,  Prince  Eugene  had  ordered  all  his  army  to  pay  him 
the  same  honors  as  to  himself.  Ghent  and  Bruges  were  abandoned  to  the 
Imperialists. 

The  campaign  in  Spain  had  not  been  successful;  the  duke  of  Orleans, 
weary  of  his  powerlessness,  and  under  suspicion  at  the  court  of  Philip  V.,  had 
given  up  the  command  of  the  troops  ;  the  English  admiral,  Leake,  had  taken 
possession  of  Sardinia,  of  the  island  of  Minorca  and  of  Port  Mahon  ;  the 


FRANCE. — LOUIS  XIV. 


[1707 


166 

archduke  was  master  of  the  isles  and  of  the  sea.  The  destitution  in  France 
was  fearful,  and  the  winter  so  severe  that  the  poor  were  in  want  of  every¬ 
thing;  riots  multiplied  in  the  towns;  the  king  sent  his  plate  to  the  Mint,  and 
put  his  jewels  in  pawn  ;  he  likewise  took  a  resolution,  which  cost  him  even 
more — he  determined  to  ask  for  peace.  He  offered  the  Hollanders  a  very 
extended  barrier  in  the  Low  Countries  and  all  the  facilities  they  had  long 
been  asking  for  their  commerce.  He  accepted  the  abandonment  of  Spain  to 
the  archduke  and  merely  claimed  to  reserve  to  his  grandson,  Naples,  Sardinia 
and  Sicily.  This  was  what  was  secured  to  him  by  the  second  treaty  of 
partition  lately  concluded  between  England,  the  United  Provinces  and 
France;  he  did  not  even  demand  Lorraine.  President  Rouille,  formerly 
French  envoy  to  Lisbon,  arrived  disguised  in  Holland ;  conferences  were 
opened  secretly  at  Bodegraven. 

Led  on  by  his  fidelity  to  the  allies,  distrustful  and  suspicious  as  regarded 
France,  burning  to  avenge  the  wrongs  put  upon  the  republic,  Heinsius,  in 
concert  with  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene,  required  conditions  so  hard 
that  the  French  agent  scarcely  dared  transmit  them  to  Versailles.  What  was 
demanded  was  the  abdication  pure  and  simple  of  Philip  V. ;  Holland  merely 
promised  her  good  offices  to  obtain  in  his  favor  Naples  and  Sicily;  England 
claimed  Dunkerque  ;  Germany  wanted  Strasburg  and  the  renewal  of  the 
peace  of  Westphalia;  Victor  Amadeo  aspired  to  recover  Nice  and  Savoy;  to 
the  Dutch  barrier  stipulated  for  at  Ryswick  were  to  be  added  Lille,  Conde, 
and  Tournay.  In  vain  was  the  matter  discussed  article  by  article;  in  their 
short-sighted  resentment  the  allies  had  overstepped  reason.  War  recom¬ 
menced  on  all  sides.  The  king  had  just  consented  at  last  to  give  Chamillard 
his  discharge.  “  Sire,  I  shall  die  over  the  job,”  had  for  a  long  time  been  the 
complaint  of  the  minister  worn  out  with  fatigue.  “  Ah  !  well,  we  will  die 
together,”  had  been  the  king’s  rejoinder. 

France  was  dying,  and  Chamillard  was  by  no  means  a  stranger  to  the 
cause.  Louis  XIV.  put  in  his  place  Voysin,  former  superintendent  of 
Hainault,  entirely  devoted  to  Madame  de  Maintenon.  He  loaded  with 
benefits  the  minister  from  whom  he  was  parting,  the  only  one  whom  he  had 
really  loved.  The  troops  were  destitute  of  everything.  The  king  was  afraid 
of  losing  his  last  army  ;  the  dukes  of  Harcourt  and  Berwick  were  covering 
the  Rhine  and  the  Alps  ;  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene,  who  had  just 
made  themselves  masters  of  Tournay,  marched  against  Villars,  whom  they 
encountered  on  the  nth  of  September,  1709,  near  the  hamlet  of  Malplaquet. 
Marshal  Boufflers  had  just  reached  the  army  to  serve  as  a  volunteer.  Villars 
had  entrenched  himself  in  front  of  the  woods;  his  men  were  so  anxious  to  get 
under  fire  that  they  threw  away  the  rations  of  bread  just  served  out ;  the 
allies  looked  sulkily  at  the  works:  “We  are  going  to  fight  moles  again,”  they 
said.  The  allies  won  the  victory,  but  they  had  lost  more  than  twenty 
thousand  men,  according  to  their  official  account. 

This  glorious  defeat  was  followed  by  a  triumph  of  a  more  decided 
character.  Louis  XIV.  sent  into  Spain  the  Duke  de  Vendome,  who  was  in 


1712] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


I67 

disgrace  since  the  famous  campaign  of  Audenarde.  His  name  alone  was 
worth  an  army.  A  number  of  volunteers  crowded  under  his  command,  and 
Philip  V.,  who  as  yet  had  not  appeared  on  any  field  of  battle,  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  troops.  The  Spaniards,  roused  up  at  the  voice  of  the  king, 
began  against  the  imperial  forces  a  guerilla  warfare  which  proved  fatal  to 
their  invaders ;  and,  finally,  the  archduke’s  troops,  headed  by  Count  Stahren- 
berg,  were  thoroughly  routed  at  Villaviciosa  (December  9th,  1710).  The 
victory  of  Villaviciosa  not  only  saved  the  crown  of  Philip  V.,  but  also  pre¬ 
vented  Louis  XIV.  from  losing  Canada.  An  English  expedition  was  fitted 
out  to  occupy  that  colony,  but  the  success  of  Vendome  obliged  it  to  remain 
in  observation  on  the  coast  of  Spain. 

A  court  intrigue,  which  ended  in  the  downfall  of  the  Whig  administra¬ 
tion  and  the  disgrace  of  the  duchess  of  Marlborough,  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis.  The  Tories,  called  to  the  direction  of  the  government,  tried  to 
establish  their  credit  on  peaceful  measures.  Secret  negotiations  between 
France  and  England  were  begun  :  after  the  death  of  the  emperor  (April  17th, 
1 7 1 1)  they  became  public,  a  suspension  of  arms  was  immediately  decided,  and 
the  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed  in  London  on  the  8th  of  October 
following.  This  example  decided  the  allies  ;  a  congress  assembled  at  Utrecht 
on  the  29th  of  January,  1712.  The  new  emperor  refused  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  it  ;  but  the  forces  were  now  equal,  and  one  campaign  proved  to 
the  emperor  that  he  could  not,  single-handed,  hope  to  reduce  France. 

The  bolts  of  Heaven  were  falling  one  after  another  upon  the  royal 
family  of  France.  On  the  14th  of  April,  1711,  Louis  XIV.  had  lost  by  small¬ 
pox  his  son,  the  grand  dauphin,  a  mediocer  and  submissive  creature,  ever  the 
most  humble  subject  of  the  king,  at  just  fifty  years  of  age.  His  eldest  son, 
the  duke  of  Burgundy,  devout,  austere  and  capable,  the  hope  of  good  men 
and  the  terror  of  intriguers,  had  taken  the  rank  of  dauphin,  and  was  seriously 
commencing  his  apprenticeship  in  government,  when  he  was  carried  off  on 
the  18th  of  February,  1712,  by  spotted  fever  (rougeole po  rpre'e),  six  days  after 
his  wife,  the  charming  Mary  Adelaide  of  Savoy,  the  idol  of  the  whole  court, 
supremely  beloved  by  the  king,  and  by  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  had 
brought  her  up  ;  their  son,  the  duke  of  Brittany,  four  years  old,  died  on  the 
8th  of  March  ;  a  child  in  the  cradle,  weakly  and  ill,  the  little  duke  of  Anjou 
remained  the  only  shoot  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons.  Dismay  seized 
upon  all  France.  Europe  in  its  turn  was  excited.  If  the  little  duke  of 
Anjou  were  to  die,  the  crown  of  France  reverted  to  Philip  V.  The  Hollan¬ 
ders  and  the  ambassadors  of  the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  recently  crowned  at 
Frankfurt,  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  a  formal  renunciation,  In  accord  with 
the  English  ministers,  Louis  XIV.  wrote  to  his  grandson  : — 

“  You  will  be  told  what  England  proposes,  that  you  should  renounce  your 
birthright,  retaining  the  monarchy  of  Spain  and  the  Indies,  or  renounce  the 
monarchy  of  Spain,  retaining  your  rights  to  the  succession  in  France,  and 
receiving  in  exchange  for  the  crown  of  Spain  the  kingdoms  of  Sicily  and 
Naples,  the  States  of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  Montferrat  and  the  Mantuan,  the 


i68 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


[I/I2 


said  duke  of  Savoy  succeeding  you  in  Spain.  .  .  .  If  this  child  were  to  die,  as  his 
weakly  complexion  gives  too  much  reason  to  suppose,  you  would  enjoy  the 
succession  to  me  following  the  order  of  your  birth,  and  I  should  have  the 
consolation  of  leaving  to  my  people  a  virtuous  king,  capable  of  commanding 
them,  and  one  who,  on  succeeding  me,  would  unite  to  the  crown  States  so 
considerable  as  Naples,  Savoy,  Piedmont  and  Montferrat.  If  gratitude  and 
affection  toward  your  subjects  are  to  you  pressing  reasons  for  remaining  with 
them,  I  may  say  that  you  owe  me  the  same  sentiments;  you  owe  them  to 
your  own  house,  to  your  own  country,  before  Spain.  All  that  I  can  do  for 
you  is  to  leave  you  once  more  the  choice,  the  necessity  for  concluding  peace 
becoming  every  day  more  urgent. ” 

The  choice  of  Philip  V.  was  made  ;  he  had  already  written  to  his  grand¬ 
father  to  say  that  he  would  renounce  all  his  rights  of  succession  to  the 
throne  of  France  rather  than  give  up  the  crown  of  Spain.  This  decision  was 
solemnly  enregistered  by  the  Cortes.  The  English  required  that  the  dukes  of 
Berry  and  Orleans  should  likewise  make  renunciation  of  their  rights  to  the 
crown  of  Spain.  Negotiations  began  again,  but  war  began  again  at  the  same 
time  as  the  negotiations. 

The  king  had  given  Villars  the  command  of  the  army  of  Flanders.  The 
marshal  went  to  Marly  to  receive  his  last  orders.  “  You  see  my  plight, 
marshal,”  said  Louis  XIV.  “  There  are  few  examples  of  what  is  my  fate — to 
lose  in  the  same  week  a  grandson,  a  grandson’s  wife  and  their  son,  all  of  very 
great  promise  and  very  tenderly  beloved.  God  is  punishing  me  ;  I  have  well 
deserved  it.  But  suspend  we  my  griefs  at  my  own  domestic  woes,  and  look 
we  to  what  may  be  done  to  prevent  those  of  the  kingdom.  If  anything  were 
to  happen  to  the  army  you  command.  ...  I  should  count  upon  getting  to 
Peronne  or  St.  Quentin,  and  there  massing  all  the  troops  I  had,  making  a  last 
effort  with  you,  and  falling  together  or  saving  the  kingdom  ;  I  will  never 
consent  to  let  the  enemy  approach  my  capital  ”  \_M ^moires  de  Villars,  t.  ii.  p. 
362]. 

God  was  to  spare  Louis  XIV.  that  crowning  disaster  reserved  for  other 
times.  On  the  25th  of  May,  the  king  secretly  informed  his  plenipotentiaries 
as  well  as  his  generals  that  the  English  were  proposing  to  him  a  suspension 
of  hostilities,  and  he  added  :  “  It  is  no  longer  a  time  for  flattering  the  pride 
of  the  Hollanders,  but,  while  we  treat  with  them  in  good  faith,  it  must  be 
with  the  dignity  that  becomes  me.”  That  which  the  king’s  pride  refused  to 
the  ill-will  of  the  Hollanders  he  granted  to  the  good  will  of  England.  The 
day  of  the  commencement  of  the  armistice  Dunkerque  was  put  as  guarantee 
into  the  hands  of  the  English,  who  recalled  their  native  regiments  from  the 
army  of  Prince  Eugene  ;  the  king  complained  that  they  left  him  the  auxiliary 
troops;  the  English  ministers  proposed  to  prolong  the  truce,  promising  to 
treat  separately  with  France  if  the  allies  refused  assent  to  the  peace.  The 
news  received  by  Louis  XIV.  gave  him  assuranrj  of  better  conditions  than 
any  one  had  dared  to  hope  for. 

Villars  had  not  been  able  to  prevent  Prince  Eugene  from  becoming 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XIV. 


I7H] 


master  of  Quesnoy  on  the  3d  of  July;  the  Imperialists  were  already  making 
preparations  to  invade  France.  The  marshal  resolved  to  relieve  Landrecies, 
and,  having  had  bridges  thrown  over  the  Scheldt,  he  crossed  the  river 
between  Bouchain  and  Denain  on  the  23d  of  July,  1712;  the  latter  little 
place  was  defended  by  the  duke  of  Albemarle,  son  of  General  Monk,  with 
seventeen  battalions  of  auxiliary  troops  in  the  pay  of  the  allies.  The 
Imperialist  lines,  stretching  over  a  space  of  between  twelve  and  fifteen 
leagues,  were  too  straggling,  and  the  different  corps  too  far  separated  to  be 
within  reach  of  relieving  one  another.  Villars  took  advantage  of  this 
mistake  ;  by  a  false  attack  toward  Landrecies  he  deceived  the  Prince  Eugene, 
and  then  marching  with  all  speed  upon  Denain,  where  was  the  earl  of 
Albemarle,  he  destroyed  that  general’s  camp  and  cut  to  pieces  seventeen 
battalions  (July  24th,  1712).  Eugene  comes  up;  he  too  is  driven  back.  All 
the  posts  on  the  bank  of  the  Scarpe  are  successively  carried,  Landrecies  is 
relieved,  Douai,  Marchiennes,  Bouchain  and  Le  Quesnoy  are  taken,  and  the 
frontiers  of  France  become  safe  once  more. 

The  victory  of  Denain  hastened  the  conclusion  of  the  peace.  Three 
treaties  were  signed  :  1st,  that  of  Utrecht  (April  nth,  1713),  between  France, 
Spain,  Holland,  Savoy  and  Portugal;  2d,  that  of  Rastadt  (March  7th,  1714), 
between  France  and  Charles  VI.,  3d,  that  of  Baden  (June  7th,  1714),  between 
France  and  the  empire.  The  treaty  of  Rastadt  was  delayed  for  one  year  on 
account  of  the  obstinacy  of  Charles  VI.,  who  persisted  in  continuing  the  war, 
although  his  allies  had  come  to  terms  with  Louis  XIV.  Villars,  sent  toward 
the  Rhenish  frontier,  where  he  found  himself  opposed  to  Prince  Eugene, 
disconcerted  the  Imperial  troops  by  the  rapidity  of  his  movements.  He 
retook  Landau,  scaled  at  the  head  of  his  grenadiers  the  mountain  of  Roskhof, 
which  protected  Friburg,  and  made  himself  master  of  this  city.  This 
brilliant  success  constrained  at  last  the  emperor  to  give  to  his  subjects  that 
peace  with  which  for  so  long  a  time  they  had  ceased  to  be  acquainted. 
France  kept  Landau  and  Fort  Louis,  she  restored  Spires,  Brisach  and 
Friburg.  The  emperor  refused  to  recognize  Philip  V.,  but  he  accepted  the 
status  quo ;  the  crown  of  Spain  remained  definitively  with  the  house  of 
Bourbon  ;  it  had  cost  men  and  millions  enough  ;  for  an  instant  the  very 
foundations  of  order  in  Europe  had  seemed  to  be  upset;  the  old  French 
monarchy  had  been  threatened  ;  it  had  recovered  of  itself  and  by  its  own 
resources,  sustaining  single-handed  the  struggle,  and  obtained  conditions  which 
restored  its  frontiers  to  the  limits  of  the  peace  of  Ryswick ;  but  it  was 
exhausted,  gasping,  at  wits’  end  for  men  and  money  ;  absolute  power  had 
obtained  from  national  pride  the  last  possible  efforts,  but  it  had  played  itself 
out  in  the  struggle ;  the  confidence  of  the  country  was  shaken  ;  it  had  been 
seen  what  dangers  the  will  of  a  single  man  made  the  nation  incur.  The  habit  of 
respect,  the  memories  of  past  glories,  the  personal  majesty  of  Louis  XIV.  still 
kept  up  about  the  aged  king  the  deceitful  appearances  of  uncontested  power 
and  sovereign  authority  ;  the  long  decadence  of  his  great-grandson’s  reign 
was  destined  to  complete  its  ruin. 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1661 


170 

Louis  XIV.  had  the  good  fortune  to  profit  by  the  efforts  of  his 
predecessors  as  well  as  of  his  own  servants  :  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  Conde 
and  Turenne,  Luxembourg,  Catinat,  Vauban,  Villars  and  Louvois  all  toiled  at 
the  same  work ;  under  his  reign,  France  was  intoxicated  with  excess  of  the 
pride  of  conquest,  but  she  did  not  lose  all  its  fruits  ;  she  witnessed  the 
conclusion  of  five  peaces,  mostly  glorious,  the  last  sadly  honorable  ;  all  tended 
to  consolidate  the  unity  and  power  of  the  kingdom  ;  it  is  to  the  treaties  of 
the  Pyrenees,  of  Westphalia,  of  Nimeguen,  of  Ryswick,  and  of  Utrecht,  all 
signed  in  the  name  of  Louis  XIV.,  that  France  owed  Roussillon,  Artois, 
Alsace,  Flanders  and  Franche-Comte. 

XII. 


LOUIS  II?. -HOME  ADMINISTRATION.  -LITEEAT1E.  -THE 


T  is  King  Louis  XIV. ’s  distinction  and  heavy  burden 
in  the  eyes  of  history  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  of 
anything  in  his  reign  without  constantly  recurring  to 
himself.  He  had  two  ministers  of  the  higher  order, 
Colbert  and  Louvois  ;  several  of  good  capacity,  such  as 
Seignelay  and  Torcy ;  others  incompetent,  like  Chamil- 
lard  ;  he  remained  as  much  master  of  the  administrators 
of  the  first  rank  as  if  they  had  been  insignificant  clerks ;  the 
home  government  of  France,  from  1661  to  1715,  is  summed  up  in 
the  king’s  relations  with  his  ministers. 

It  was  their  genius  which  made  the  fortunes  and  the  power  of 
Louis  XIV.’s  two  great  ministers,  Colbert  and  Louvois.  On  the 
faith  of  Cardinal  Marazin,  the  king  knew  the  worth  of  Colbert. 
“  I  had  all  possible  confidence  in  him,”  says  he,  “  because  I  knew 
that  he  had  a  great  deal  of  application,  intelligence  and  probity.” 
Rough,  reserved,  taciturn,  indefatigable  in  work,  passionately 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  order,  public  welfare  and  the  peaceable 
aggrandisement  of  France,  Colbert,  on  becoming  the  comptroller  of  finance 
in  1661,  brought  to  the  service  of  the  State  superior  views,  consummate 
experience  and  indomitable  perseverance. 

The  punishment  of  the  tax-collectors  ( traitants ),  prosecuted  at  the  same 
time  as  Superintendent  Fouquetthe  arbitrary  redemption  of  re?itcs  (annuities) 
on  the  city  of  Paris  or  on  certain  branches  of  the  taxes,  did  not  suffice  to 
alleviate  the  extreme  suffering  of  the  people.  The  talliages,  from  which  the 
nobility  and  the  clergy  were  nearly  everywhere  exempt,  pressed  upon  the 
people  with  the  most  cruel  inequality.  Colbert  proposed  to  the  king  to  remit 


I75i] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


171 

the  arrears  of  that  tax,  and  devoted  all  his  efforts  to  reducing  them,  while 
regulating  its  collection.  He  was  only  very  partially  successful,  without,  how¬ 
ever,  allowing  himself  to  be  repelled  by  the  difficulties  presented  by 
differences  of  legislation  and  customs  in  the  provinces.  He  died  without 
having  completed  his  work ;  but  the  talliages  had  been  reduced  by  eight 
millions  of  livres  within  the  first  two  years  of  his  administration. 

Peace  was  of  short  duration  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  often  so 
precarious  that  it  did  not  permit  disarmament.  At  the  very  period  when  the 
able  minister  was  trying  to  make  the  people  feel  the  importance  of  the 
diminution  in  the  talliages,  he  wrote  to  the  king:  “I  merely  entreat  your 
Majesty  to  permit  me  to  say  that  in  war  as  well  as  in  peace  you  have  never 
consulted  your  finances  for  the  purpose  of  determining  your  expenditure, 
which  is  a  thing  so  extraordinary  that  assuredly  there  is  no  example  thereof. 
For  the  past  twenty  years  during  which  I  have  had  the  honor  of  serving  your 
Majesty,  though  the  receipts  have  greatly  increased,  you  would  find  that  the 
expenses  have  much  exceeded  the  receipts,  which  might  perhaps  induce  you 
to  moderate  and  retrench  such  as  are  excessive.”  Louis  XIV.  did  not 
“moderate  or  retrench  his  expenses.”  The  expenses  of  recovering  the  taxes, 
which  had  but  lately  led  to  great  abuses,  were  diminished  by  half.  The 
puissance  of  the  provincial  governors,  already  curtailed  by  Richelieu,  suffered 
from  fresh  attacks  under  Louis  XIV.  Everywhere  the  power  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  superintendents,  themselves  subjected  in  their  turn  to  inspection 
by  the  masters  of  requests.  Order  was  restored  in  all  parts  of  France. 

Colbert  knew  how  to  “  throw  millions  about  ”  when  it  was  for  endowing 
France  with  new  manufactures  and  industries.  “  One  of  the  most  important 
works  of  peace,”  he  used  to  say,  “  is  the  re-establishment  of  every  kind  of 
trade  in  this  kingdom  and  to  put  it  in  a  position  to  do  without  having 
recourse  to  foreigners  for  the  things  necessary  for  the  use  and  comfort  of  the 
subjects.”  The  cloth  manufactures  were  dying  out,  they  received  encourage¬ 
ment  ;  a  Protestant  Hollander,  Van  Robais,  attracted  over  to  Abbeville  by 
Colbert,  there  introduced  the  making  of  fine  cloths ;  at  Beauvais  and  in  the 
Gobelins  establishment  at  Paris,  under  the  direction  of  the  great  painter, 
Lebrun,  the  French  tapestries  soon  threw  into  the  shade  the  reputation  of 
the  tapestries  of  Flanders;  Venice  had  to  yield  up  her  secrets  and  her 
workmen  for  the  glass  manufactories  of  St.  Gobain  and  Tourlaville.  The 
bad  state  of  the  roads  “  was  a  dreadful  hindrance  to  traffic  ;  ”  Colbert 
ordered  them  to  be  everywhere  improved.  The  magnificent  canal  of 
Languedoc,  due  to  the  generous  initiative  of  Riquet,  united  the  ocean  to  the 
Mediterranean ;  the  canal  of  Orleans  completed  the  canal  of  Briare,  com¬ 
menced  by  Henry  IV.  The  inland  custom-houses,  which  shackled  the  traffic 
between  province  and  province,  were  suppressed  at  divers  points ;  many 
provinces  demurred  to  the  admission  of  this  innovation,  declaring  that,  to  set 
their  affairs  right,  “there  was  need  of  nothing  but  order,  order,  order.” 
Colbert  also  wanted  order,  but  his  views  were  higher  and  broader  than  those 
of  Breton  or  Gascon  merchants;  in  spite  of  his  desire  to  “put  the  kingdom 


172 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1691 


in  a  position  to  do  without  having  recourse  to  foreigners  for  things  necessary 
for  the  use  and  comfort  of  the  French,”  he  had  too  lofty  and  too  judicious  a 
mind  to  neglect  the  extension  of  trade  ;  like  Richelieu,  he  was  for  founding 
great  trading  companies;  he  had  five,  for  the  East  and  West  Indies,  the 
Levant,  the  North,  and  Africa  ;  his  efforts  were  not  useless;  at  his  death,  the 
maritime  trade  of  France  had  developed  itself,  and  French  merchants  were 
effectually  protected  at  sea  by  ships  of  war.  In  1692,  the  royal  navy 
numbered  a  hundred  and  eighty-six  vessels ;  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
sailors  were  down  on  the  books;  the  works  at  the  ports  of  Toulon,  Brest, 
and  Rochefort,  were  in  full  activity;  Louis  XIV.  was  in  a  position  to  refuse 
the  salute  of  the  flag,  which  the  English  had  up  to  that  time  exacted  in  the 
Channel  from  all  nations. 

Louis  XIV.  was  the  victim  of  three  passions  which  hampered  and  in  the 
long  run  destroyed  the  accord  between  king  and  minister:  that  for  war, 
whetted  and  indulged  by  Louvois  ;  that  for  kingly  and  courtly  extravagance  ; 
and  that  for  building  and  costly  fancies.  Colbert  urged  the  king  to  complete 
the  Louvre,  plans  for  which  were  requested  of  Bernini,  who  went  to  Paris  for 
the  purpose ;  after  two  years’  useless  feelers  and  compliments,  the  Italian 
returned  to  Rome,  and  the  work  was  entrusted  to  Perrault,  whose  plan  for 
the  beautiful  colonnade  still  existing  had  always  pleased  Colbert.  The 
completion  of  the  castle  of  St.  Germain,  the  works  at  Fontainbleau  and  at 
Chambord,  the  triumphal  arches  of  St.  Denis  and  St.  Martin,  the  laying  out 
of  the  Tuileries,  the  construction  of  the  Observatory,  and  even  that  of  the 
Palais  des  Invalides,  which  was  Louvois’s  idea,  found  the  comptroller  of  the 
finances  well  disposed  if  not  eager. 

Colbert  was  mistaken  in  his  fears  for  Louis  XIV. ’s  glory  ;  if  the  expenses 
of  Versailles  surpassed  his  most  gloomy  apprehensions,  the  palace  which  rose 
upon  the  site  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  former  hunting  box  was  worthy  of  the  king 
who  had  made  it  in  his  own  image  and  who  managed  to  retain  all  his  court 
around  him  there  ;  he  died,  however,  before  Versailles  was  completed  ;  at 
sixty-four  years  of  age  Colbert  succumbed  to  excess  of  labor  and  of  cares. 
His  thoughts  were  occupied  with  his  soul’s  salvation.  Madame  de  Maintenon 
used  to  accuse  him  of  always  thinking  about  his  finances  and  very  little  about 
religion.  He  repeated  bitterly,  as  the  dying  Cardinal  Wolsey  had  previously 
said  in  the  case  of  Henry:  “  If  I  had  done  for  God  what  I  have  done  for 
that  man,  I  had  been  saved  twice  over ;  and  now  I  know  not  what  will 
become  of  me.”  He  expired  on  the  6th  of  September,  1683. 

Louvois  remained  henceforth  alone,  without  rival  and  without  check. 
The  work  he  had  undertaken  for  the  reorganization  of  the  army  was  pretty 
nearly  completed  ;  he  had  concentrated  in  his  own  hands  the  whole  direction 
of  the  military  service,  the  burden  and  the  honor  of  which  were  both  borne 
by  him.  He  had  subjected  to  the  same  rules  and  the  same  discipline  all 
corps  and  all  grades  ;  the  general  as  well  as  the  colonel  obeyed  him  blindly. 
M.  de  Turenne  alone  had  managed  to  escape  from  the  administrative  level. 
Order  reigned  in  the  army,  and  supplies  were  regular.  Louvois  received  the 


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173 


I7i5] 

nickname  of  great  Victualler  (  Vivrier).  The  wounded  were  tended  in  hospitals 
devoted  to  their  use.  He  conceived  the  grand  idea  of  the  Hotel  des 
Invalides.  Never  had  the  officers  of  the  army  been  under  such  strict  and 
minute  supervision ;  promotion  went  by  seniority,  by  “  the  order  on  the  list,” 
as  the  phrase  then  was,  without  any  favor  for  rank  or  birth  ;  commanders 
were  obliged  to  attend  to  their  corps. 

Artillery  and  engineering  were  developed  under  the  influence  of  Vauban, 
“the  first  of  his  own  time  and  one  of  the  first  of  all  times”  in  the  great  art 
of  besieging,  fortifying  and  defending  places.  Louvois  had  singled  out 
Vauban  at  the  sieges  of  Lille,  Tournay  and  Douai,  which  he  had  directed  in 
chief  under  the  king’s  own  eye.  The  honesty  and  moral  worth  of  Vauban 
equaled  his  genius  ;  he  was  as  high-minded  as  he  was  modest ;  evil  reports 
had  been  spread  about  concerning  the  contractors  for  the  fortifications  of 
Lille;  Vauban  demanded  an  inquiry:  “You  are  quite  right  in  thinking,  my 
lord,”  he  wrote  to  Louvois,  to  whom  he  was  united  by  a  sincere  and  faithful 
friendship,  “  that,  if  you  do  not  examine  into  this  affair,  you  can  not  do  me 
justice,  and,  if  you  do  it  me  not,  that  would  be  compelling  me  to  seek  means  of 
doing  it  myself,  and  of  giving  up  forever  fortification  and  all  its  concomitants.” 
It  was  not  until  eight  years  after  the  death  of  Louvois,  in  1699,  when  Vauban 
had  directed  fifty-three  sieges,  constructed  the  fortifications  of  thirty-three 
places,  and  repaired  those  of  three  hundred  towns,  that  he  was  made  a  marshal, 
an  honor  that  no  engineer  had  yet  obtained. 

The  leisure  of  peace  was  more  propitious  to  Vauban’s  fame  than  to  his 
favor.  Generous  and  sincere  as  he  was,  a  patriot  more  far-sighted  than  his 
contemporaries,  he  had  the  courage  to  present  to  the  king  a  memorial 
advising  the  recall  of  the  fugitive  Huguenots  and  renewal,  pure  and  simple,  of 
the  edict  of  Nantes.  He  had  just  directed  the  siege  of  Brisach  and  the 
defense  of  Dunkerque  when  he  published  a  great  economical  work  entitled 
la  Dime  Royale.  The  king  was  offended  ;  he  gave  the  marshal  a  cold  reception 
and  had  the  work  seized.  Vauban  received  his  death-blow  from  this  disgrace : 
the  royal  edict  was  dated  March  19th,  1707:  the  great  engineer  died  on  the 
30th  ;  he  was  not  quite  seventy-four.  The  king  testified  no  regret  for  the  loss 
of  so  illustrious  a  servant,  with  whom  he  had  lived  on  terms  of  close 
intimacy.  Vauban  had  appeared  to  impugn  his  supreme  authority ;  this  was 
one  of  the  crimes  that  Louis  XIV.  never  forgave. 

On  the  16th  of  July,  1691,  death  suddenly  removed  the  minister  Louvois, 
fallen  in  royal  favor,  detested  and  dreaded  in  France,  universally  hated  in 
Europe,  leaving,  however,  the  king,  France  and  Europe  with  the  feeling  that 
a  great  power  had  fallen,  a  great  deal  of  merit  disappeared. 

The  king  felt  his  loss,  but  did  not  regret  the  minister  whose  tyranny  and 
violence  were  beginning  to  be  oppressive  to  him  :  he  felt  himself  to  be  more 
than  ever  master  in  the  presence  of  the  young  or  inexperienced  men  to  whom 
he  henceforth  entrusted  his  affairs.  Louvois’s  son,  Barbezieux,  had  the 
reversion  of  the  war-department ;  Pontchartrain,  who  had  been  comptroller 


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174 


[1661 


of  finance  ever  since  the  retirement  of  Lepelletier,  had  been  appointed  to  the 
navy  in  1690  at  the  death  of  Seignelay. 

Then  came  the  age  of  mediocrity  in  the  cabinet  as  well  as  on  the  field  ; 
Chamillard  was  the  first,  the  only  one  of  his  ministers,  whom  the  king  had 
ever  loved.  The  court  bore  with  him  because  he  was  easy  and  good-natured, 
but  the  affairs  of  the  State  were  imperiled  in  his  hands  ;  Pontchartrain  had 
already  had  recourse  to  the  most  objectionable  proceedings  in  order  to  obtain 
money ;  the  mental  resources  of  Colbert  himself  had  failed  in  presence  of 
financial  embarrassments  and  increasing  estimates.  Trade  was  languishing; 
the  manufactures  founded  by  Colbert  were  dropping  away  one  after  another  ; 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  and  the  emigration  of  Protestants  had 
drained  France  of  the  most  industrious  and  most  skillful  workmen;  many  of 
the  reformers  had  carried  away  a  great  deal  of  capital  ;  the  roads,  everywhere 
neglected,  were  becoming  impracticable. 

Desmarets  in  the  finance  and  Voysin  in  the  war-department,  both 
superintendents  of  finance,  the  former  a  nephew  of  Colbert’s  and  initiated 
into  business  by  his  uncle,  both  of  them  capable  and  assiduous,  succumbed, 
like  their  predecessors,  beneath  the  weight  of  the  burdens  which  were  over¬ 
whelming  and  ruining  France.  Desmarets  succeeded  better  than  could  have 
been  expected  without  being  able  to  rehabilitate  the  finances  of  the  State. 
Pontchartrain  had  exhausted  the  resource  of  creating  new  offices.  Desmarets 
had  recourse  to  the  bankers ;  and  the  king  seconded  him  by  the  gracious 
favor  with  which  he  received  at  Versailles  the  greatest  of  the  collectors 
( trait  ants ),  Samuel  Bernard.  France  kept  up  the  contest  to  the  end.  When 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed,  the  fleet  was  ruined  and  destroyed,  the 
trade  diminished  by  two-thirds,  the  colonies  lost  or  devastated  by  the  war, 
the  destitution  in  the  country  so  frightful  that  orders  had  to  be  given  to  sow 
seed  in  the  fields ;  the  exportation  of  grain  was  forbidden  on  pain  of  death. 
Meanwhile  the  peasantry  were  reduced  to  browse  upon  the  grass  in  the  roads 
and  to  tear  the  bark  off  the  trees  and  eat  it.  Thirty  years  had  rolled  by 
since  the  death  of  Colbert,  twenty-two  since  that  of  Louvois ;  everything 
was  going  to  perdition  simultaneously  ;  reverses  in  war  and  distress  at  home 
were  uniting  to  overwhelm  the  aged  king,  alone  upstanding  amid  so  many 
dead  and  so  much  ruin. 

Independently  of  simple  submission  to  the  Catholic  Church,  there 
were  three  great  tendencies  which  divided  serious  minds  among  them 
during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV. ;  three  noble  passions  held  possession  of 
pious  souls ;  liberty,  faith,  and  love  were,  respectively,  the  groundwork 
as  well  as  the  banner  of  Protestantism,  Jansenism,  and  Quietism.  It  was 
the  name  of  the  fundamental  and  innate  liberty  of  the  soul,  its  personal 
responsibility  and  its  direct  relations  with  God,  that  the  Reformation  had 
sprung  up  and  reached  growth  in  France,  even  more  than  in  Germany 
and  in  England.  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  the  head  and  founder  of  Jansenism, 
abandoned  the  human  soul  unreservedly  to  the  supreme  will  of  God ; 
his  faith  soared  triumphant  over  flesh  and  blood,  and  his  disciples,  disdaining 


1715] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


175 


the  joys  and  the  ties  of  earth,  lived  only  for  eternity.  Madame  Guyon 
and  Fenelon,  less  ardent  and  less  austere,  discovered  in  the  tender  mysticism 
of  pure  love  that  secret  of  God’s  which  is  sought  by  all  pious  souls; 

in  the  name  of  divine  love,  the  Quietists  renounced  all  will  of  their 

own,  just  as  the  Jansenists  in  the  name  of  faith. 

Louis  XIV.  on  one  occasion  had  solemnly  promised  that  he  would 
respect  the  rights  of  conscience ;  but  from  the  very  beginning  of  his 
personal  government  he  plainly  showed  that  he  did  not  mean  to  keep 
his  word ;  and  after  an  interval  of  twenty  years,  the  series  of  arbitrary 
measures  which  he  countenanced  and  even  ordered  were  replaced  by  open 
and  avowed  persecution.  To  begin  with  the  Huguenots;  all  the  guaran¬ 
tees  stipulated  by  the  edict  of  Nantes  were  successively  withdrawn,  the 
mixed  chambers  established  in  the  parliaments  of  Toulouse,  Grenoble, 
and  Bordeaux  were  suppressed,  and  no  Protestant  could  enter  any  one 
of  the  liberal  professions  or  practice  as  physician,  lawyer,  publisher,  printer, 
etc.  Roman  Catholics  were  prohibited  from  embracing  Calvinism  under 
penalty  of  hard  labor  at  the  hulks  for  life ;  and  children  of  Protestant 
parents  were,  on  the  contrary,  authorized  to  abjure  their  faith  as  early 

as  the  age  of  seven  years.  By  virtue  of  this  declaration,  a  great  number 

of  children  were  torn  from  the  bosom  of  their  family ;  and  Madame  de 
Maintenon  founded  the  convent  of  Saint-Cyr,  near  Versailles,  for  the 
reception  of  young  ladies  of  noble  origin,  thus  converted.  Missions  were 
multiplied  throughout  the  provinces,  consciences  were  bought  accord¬ 
ing  to  a  certain  tariff,  and  Pellisson,  who,  like  the  new  favorite,  had  been 
originally  a  Protestant,  received  the  direction  of  a  special  fund  organized 
to  pay  these  shameful  abjurations. 

It  was  pleasantly  remarked  at  court,  that  the  golden  doctrine  of 
M.  Pellisson  was  much  more  convincing  than  that  of  Monsieur  de  Meaux. 
The  Protestants  called  his  coffers  the  box  of  Pandora,  while  he  himself 
compared  them  to  the  cruse  of  the  widow  of  Sarepta.  Louvois  had 
recourse  to  means  still  more  persuasive,  he  sent  soldiers  to  take  up  their 
quarters  in  the  houses  of  the  Protestants.  “  Sometimes  the  poor  frightened 
people  at  once  declared  themselves  converts  by  general  acclamation.  The 
people  of  education  signed  a  profession  of  faith,  while  the  common 
people  only  said,  ‘  I  reunite  myself,’  or  cried  out  ‘  Ave  Maria,’  or  made 
the  sign  of  the  cross.  In  some  towns,  offices  of  conversion  were  estab¬ 
lished,  where  the  proselytes,  after  having  their  names  registered  on  a  list, 
received  a  certificate  written  on  the  back  of  a  playing  card ,  which  was  to 
protect  them  from  the  persecution  of  the  soldiery.  The  people  of  Nismes, 
using  on  apocalyptic  phrase,  called  this  card  the  mark  of  the  beast ; 
and,  indeed,  they  only  announced  a  profound  truth ;  for  what  is  a  man 
worth  who,  to  preserve  what  is  animal  and  mortal  in  him,  gives  up  his 
spiritual  being — his  soul,  the  heavenly  and  immortal  part  of  his  nature?” 

At  last  the  fatal  blow  was  struck.  The  king  assembled  his  council : 
the  lists  of  converts  were  so  long  that  there  could  scarcely  remain  in 


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[1661 


176 

the  kingdom  more  than  a  few  thousand  recalcitrants..  A  resolution  was 
carried  unanimously  for  the  suppression  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  The 
declaration,  drawn  up  by  Chancellor  Le  Tellier  and  Chateauneuf,  was 
signed  by  the  king  on  the  15th  of  October,  1685;  it  was  dispatched 
on  the  17th  to  all  the  superintendents.  The  edict  of  pacification,  that 
great  work  of  the  liberal  and  prudent  genius  of  Henry  IV.,  respected 
and  confirmed  in  its  most  important  particulars  by  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
recognized  over  and  over  again  by  Louis  XIV.  himself,  disappeared  at 
a  single  stroke,  carrying  with  it  all  hope  of  liberty,  repose  and  justice 
for  fifteen  hundred  thousand  subjects  of  the  king.  “Our  pains,”  said 
the  preamble  of  the  edict,  “  have  had  the  end  we  had  proposed,  seeing 
that  the  better  and  the  greater  part  of  our  subjects  of  the  religion  styled 
reformed  have  embraced  the  Catholic ;  the  execution  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes  consequently  remaining  useless,  we  have  considered  that  we  could 
not  do  better,  for  the  purpose  of  effacing  entirely  the  memory  of  the 
evils  which  this  false  religion  has  caused  in  our  kingdom,  than  revoke 
entirely  the  aforesaid  edict  of  Nantes  and  all  that  has  been  done  in 
favor  of  the  said  religion.” 

The  edict  of  October  15th,  1685,  supposed  the  religion  styled  reformed 
to  be  already  destroyed  and  abolished.  It  ordered  the  demolition  of  all 
the  chapels  that  remained  standing  and  interdicted  any  assembly  or 
worship :  recalcitrant  ( opinidtres )  ministers  were  ordered  to  leave  the  king¬ 
dom  within  fifteen  days ;  the  schools  were  closed ;  all  new-born  babies 
were  to  be  baptized  by  the  parish-priests ;  religionists  were  forbidden 
to  leave  the  kingdom  on  pain  of  the  galleys  for  the  men  and  confisca¬ 
tion  of  person  and  property  for  the  women.  “  The  will  of  the  king,” 
said  Superintendent  Marillac  at  Rouen,  “  is  that  there  be  no  more  than 
one  religion  in  this  kingdom ;  it  is  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  well¬ 
being  of  the  State.”  Two  hours  were  allowed  the  reformers  of  Rouen 
for  making  their  abjuration. 

One  clause,  at  the  end  of  the  edict  of  October  15th,  seemed  to  extenuate 
its  effect:  “Those  of  our  subjects  of  the  religion  styled  reformed  who 
shall  persist  in  their  errors,  pending  the  time  when  it  may  please  God 
to  enlighten  them  like  the  rest,  shall,  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
kingdom,  country  and  lands  which  obey  the  king,  there  to  continue  their 
trade  and  enjoy  their  property  without  being  liable  to  be  vexed  or 
hindered  on  pretext  of  prayer  or  worship  of  the’  said  religion,  of  what¬ 
soever  nature  they  may  be.”  “Never  was  there  illusion  more  cruel  than 
that  which-  this  clause  caused  people,”  says  Benoit  in  his  Histoirc  dc 
V Edit  dc  Nantes:  “it  was  believed  that  the  king  meant  only  to  forbid 
special  exercises,  but  that  he  intended  to  leave  conscience  free,  since  he 
granted  this  grace  to  all  those  who  were  still  reformers,  pending  the 
time  when  it  should  please  God  to  enlighten  them.  Many  gave  up  the 
measures  they  had  taken  for  leaving  the  country  with  their  families, 
many  voluntarily  returned  from  the  retreats  where  they  had  hitherto  been 


i/i  5] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


i/7 


fortunate  enough  to  lie  hid.  The  most  mistrustful  dared  not  suppose 
that  so  solemn  a  promise  was  only  made  to  be  broken  on  the  morrow. 
They  were  all,  nevertheless,  mistaken ;  and  those  who  were  imprudent 
enough  to  return  to  their  homes  were  only  just  in  time  to  receive  the 
dragoons  there.”  The  pride  of  Louis  XIV.  was  engaged  in  the  struggle ; 
those  of  his  subjects  who  refused  to  sacrifice  their  religion  to  him  were 
disobedient,  rebellious  and  besotted  with  silly  vanity. 

Even  in  his  court  and  among  his  most  useful  servants  the  king 
encountered  unexpected  opposition.  Marshal  Schomberg  with  great  diffi¬ 
culty  obtained  authority  to  leave  the  kingdom ;  Duquesne  was  refused. 
All  ports  were  closed,  all  frontiers  watched.  The  great  lords  gave  way, 
one  after  another;  accustomed  to  enjoy  royal  favors,  attaching  to  them 
excessive  value,  living  at  court,  close  to  Paris,  which  was  spared  a  great 
deal  during  the  persecution,  they,  without  much  effort,  renounced  a  faith 
which  closed  to  them  henceforth  the  door  to  all  offices  and  all  honors. 
The  gentlemen  of  the  provinces  were  more  resolute ;  many  realized  as 
much  as  they  could  of  their  property  and  went  abroad,  braving  all 
dangers,  even  that  of  the  galleys  in  case  of  arrest.  It  was  impossible 
to  estimate  precisely  the  number  of  emigrations ;  it  was  probably  between 
three  and  four  hundred  thousand.  Almost  all  trade  was  stopped  in 
Normandy.  The  little  amount  of  manufacture  that  was  possible  rotted 
away  on  the  spot  for  want  of  transport  to  foreign  countries,  whence 
vessels  were  no  longer  found  to  come.  The  Norman  emigration  had 
been  very  numerous,  thanks  to  the  extent  of  its  coasts  and  to  the 
habitual  communication  between  Normandy,  England  and  Holland;  Vauban, 
however,  remained  very  far  from  the  truth  when  he  deplored,  in  1688, 
“  the  desertion  of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  the  withdrawal  from  the 
kingdom  of  sixty  millions  of  livres,  the  enemy’s  fleets  swelled  by  nine 
thousand  sailors,  the  best  in  the  kingdom,  and  the  enemy’s  armies  by 
six  hundred  officers  and  twelve  thousand  soldiers,  who  had  seen  service.” 
It  is  a  natural  but  a  striking  fact  that  the  reformers  who  left  France 
and  were  received  with  open  arms  in  Brandenburg,  Holland,  England 
and  Switzerland  carried  in  their  hearts  a  profound  hatred  for  the  king 
who  drove  them  away  from  their  country  and  everywhere  took  service 
against  him,  while  the  Protestants  who  remained  in  F ranee,  bound  to 
the  soil  by  a  thousand  indissoluble  ties,  continued  at  the  same  time  to 
be  submissive  and  faithful. 

The  peace  of  Ryswick  had  not  brought  the  Protestants  the  hoped 
for  alleviation  of  their  woes.  Louis  XIV.  haughtily  rejected  the  petition 
of  the  English  and  Dutch  plenipotentiaries  on  behalf  of  “  those  in  afflic¬ 
tion  who  ought  to  have  their  share  in  the  happiness  of  Europe.”  The 
persecution  everywhere  continued,  with  determination  and  legality  in  the 
North,  with  violence  and  passion  in  the  South,  abandoned  to  the  tyranny 
of  M.  de  Lamoignon  de  Baville,  a  crafty  and  cold-bloodedly  cruel  poli¬ 
tician,  without  the  excuse  of  any  zealous  religious  conviction.  The  execu- 
12 


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178 


[1661 


tion  of  several  ministers  who  had  remained  in  hiding  in  the  Cevennes 
or  had  returned  from  exile  to  instruct  and  comfort  their  flocks  raised 
to  the  highest  pitch  the  enthusiasm  of  the  reformers  of  Languedoc. 
Deprived  of  their  highly  prized  assemblies  and  of  their  pastors’  guidance, 
men  and  women,  graybeards  and  children,  all  at  once  fancied  themselves 
animated  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  Young  girls  had  celestial  visions; 
the  little  peasant-lasses  poured  out  their  utterances  in  French,  sometimes 
in  the  language  and  with  the  sublime  eloquence  of  the  Bible,  sole  source 
of  their  religious  knowledge.  In  vain  did  M.  de  Baville  have  three  hundred 
children  imprisoned  at  Uzes,  and  then  send  them  to  the  galleys;  the 
religious  contagion  was  too  strong  for  the  punishments ;  “  women  found 
themselves  in  a  single  day  husbandless,  childless,  houseless  and  penniless,” 
says  the  historian  Court :  they  remained  immovable  in  their  pious  ecstasy ; 
the  assemblies  multiplied  ;  the  troops  which  had  so  long  occupied  Languedoc 
had  been  summoned  away  by  the  war  of  succession  in  Spain  ;  the  militia 
could  no  longer  restrain  the  reformers,  growing  every  day  more  enthu¬ 
siastic  through  the  prophetic  hopes  which  were  born  of  their  long  sufferings. 

The  insurrection  of  the  Cevenols,  or,  as  the  Catholic  peasants  called  them, 
the  Camisards ,  led  by  Jean  Cavalier,  Roland  and  others,  was  put  down  by 
Marshal  Villars,  after  many  vicissitudes  of  successes  and  reverses.  Little  by 
little  the  chiefs  were  killed  off  in  petty  engagements  or  died  in  obscurity  of 
their  wounds;  provisions  were  becoming  scarce;  the  country  was  wasted; 
submission  became  more  frequent  every  day.  The  principals  all  demanded 
leave  to  quit  France.  Some  partial  risings  alone  recalled,  up  to  1709,  the  fact 
that  the  old  leaven  still  existed ;  the  war  of  the  Camisards  was  over.  It  was 
the  sole  attempt  in  history  on  the  part  of  French  Protestantism  since  Riche¬ 
lieu,  a  strange  and  dangerous  effort  made  by  an  ignorant  and  savage  people, 
roused  to  enthusiasm  by  persecution,  believing  itself  called  upon  by  the  spirit 
of  God  to  win,  sword  in  hand,  the  freedom  of  its  creed,  under  the  leadership 
of  two  shepherd-soldiers  and  prophets.  The  silence  of  death  succeeded  every¬ 
where  in  France  to  the  plaints  of  the  reformers  and  to  the  crash  of  arms ; 
Louis  XIV.  might  well  suppose  that  Protestantism  in  his  dominions  was 
dead. 

It  was  a  little  before  the  time  when  the  last  of  the  Camisards,  Abraham 
Mazel  and  Claris,  perished  near  Uzes  (in  1710),  that  the  king  struck  the  last 
blow  at  Jansenism  by  destroying  its  earliest  nest  and  its  last  refuge,  the  house 
of  the  nuns  of  Port-Royal  des  Champs.  With  truces  and  intervals  of  apparent 
repose,  the  struggle  had  lasted  more  than  sixty  years  between  the  Jesuits  and 
Jansenism.  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  who  left  the  Bastile  a  few  months  after  the 
death  of  Richelieu,  had  dedicated  the  last  days  of  his  life  to  writing  against 
Protestantism,  being  so  much  the  more  scared  by  the  heresy  in  that,  perhaps, 
he  felt  himself  attracted  thereto  by  a  secret  affinity.  He  was  already  dying 
when  there  appeared  the  book  Freqaente  Communion ,  by  M.  Arnauld,  young¬ 
est  son  and  twentieth  child  of  that  illustrious  family  of  Arnaulds,  in  whom 
Jansenism  seemed  to  be  personified.  The  author  was  immediately  accused  at 


Marshal  Villars  putting  down  the  insurrection  of  the  Camisards 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  178. 


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179 


‘715] 

Rome  and  buried  himself  for  twenty  years  in  retirement.  “  Sir,  tell  your 
Fathers,  when  I  am  dead,  not  to  triumph,  and  that  I  leave  behind  me  a  dozen 
stronger  than  I.”  With  all  his  penetration  the  director  of  consciences  was 
mistaken.  M.  Arnauld  was  a  great  theologian,  an  indefatigable  controversial¬ 
ist,  the  oracle  and  guide  of  his  friends  in  their  struggle  against  the  Jesuits ; 
M.  de  Sacy  and  M.  Singlin  were  wise  and  able  directors,  as  austere  as  M.  de 
St.  Cyran  in  their  requirements,  less  domineering  and  less  rough  than  he  ;  but 
M.  de  St.  Cyran  alone  was  and  could  be  the  head  of  Jansenism;  he  alone 
could  have  inspired  that  idea  of  immolation  of  the  whole  being  to  the 
sovereign  will  of  God,  as  to  the  truth  which  resides  in  Him  alone.  Once 
assured  of  this  point,  M.  de  St.  Cyran  became  immovable. 

Mother  Angelica  Arnauld  was  the  most  perfect  image  and  the  most 
accomplished  disciple  of  M.  de  St.  Cyran.  More  gentle  and  more  human 
than  he,  she  was  quite  as  strong  and  quite  as  zealous.  A  reformer  of  many  a 
convent  since  the  day  when  she  had  closed  the  gates  of  Port-Royal  against  her 
father,  M.  Arnauld,  in  order  to  restore  the  strictness  of  the  cloister,  Mother 
Angelica  carried  rule  along  with  her,  for  she  carried  within  herself  the  govern¬ 
ment,  rigid  no  doubt,  for  it  was  life  in  a  convent,  but  characterized  by  generous 
largeness  of  heart,  which  caused  the  yoke  to  be  easily  borne. 

Mother  Angelica  was  nearing  the  repose  of  eternity,  the  only  repose  ad¬ 
mitted  by  her  brother  M.  Arnauld,  when  the  storm  of  persecution  burst  upon 
the  monastery.  The  Augustinus  oi  Jansenius,  bishop  of  Ypres,  a  friend  of  M. 
de  St.  Cyran’s,  had  just  been  condemned  at  Rome.  Five  propositions  con¬ 
cerning  grace  were  extracted  from  the  book,  and  pronounced  heretical.  The 
opposers  of  what  was  called  Jansenist  doctrines  employed  every  means  in 
their  power  to  have  these  propositions  condemned  by  the  court  of  Rome ; 
and  having  obtained  to  this  effect  two  bulls  from  the  popes  Innocent  X.  and 
Alexander  VII.,  their  next  object  was  to  secure  the  promulgation  of  these 
documents  in  the  dominions  of  the  French  king.  An  assembly  of  court- 
bishops  drew  up  a  declaration  which  was  subsequently  made  more  valid  still 
by  the  king’s  own  signature,  and  which  became  obligatory  on  all  ecclesiastical 
persons  throughout  France.  A  negotiation  was  opened  with  the  archbishop 
of  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  endeavoring  to  obtain  from  him  a  pastoral  letter 
conceived  in  moderate  terms.  Several  meetings  took  place  among  the  Jan- 
senists,  Pascal  and  Domat  deciding  against  all  compliance  contrary  to  Christian 
truth  and  sincerity,  while  Nicole  and  Arnauld  wrote  in  favor  of  conditional 
obedience.  The  latter  prevailed ;  the  authority  of  Arnauld  especially  carried 
along  with  it  the  votes  of  the  majority.  Port-Royal  had  breathed  its  last !  In 
the  year  1709  the  monastery  was  destroyed,  and  not  even  the  sanctity  of  the 
grave  was  respected  by  the  agents  of  Louis  XIV.  Dogs  were  seen  disputing 
the  mangled  remains  of  bodies  torn  from  what  should  have  been  their  last 
resting-place. 

Nevertheless  the  publication  of  the  Reflexions  sur  le  Nouveau  Testament , 
by  Quesnel,  a  priest  of  the  congregation  of  the  Oratory  (1671),  revived  all  the 
disputes,  and  proved  the  vitality  of  the  doctrines  with  which  the  name  of 


i8o 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1661 


Jansenism  had  been  connected.  One  hundred  and  one  propositions  extracted 
from  the  work  were  condemned  at  Rome  by  the  bull  Unigenitus ,  and  Louis 
XIV.,  in  1712,  bound  the  whole  French  clergy  to  adhere  to  that  condemna¬ 
tion  under  penalty  of  disgrace,  prison  and  exile.  Quietism  was  proscribed 
quite  as  strictly  as  Jansenism.  It  is  well  known  that  a  pious  but  mistaken 
lady,  Madame  Guyon,  had  endeavored  to  spread  a  kind  of  mystical  form  of 
religion  introduced  previously  by  a  Spanish  priest,  Michael  de  Molinos,  and 
condemned  by  Pope  Innocent  XI.  Through  the  Duke  de  Beauvilliers  this 
lady  became  acquainted  with  Fenelon.  Naturally  inclined  to  the  contempla¬ 
tive  sort  of  piety  which  springs  more  from  the  heart  than  from  the 
Tunderstanding,  the  prelate  adopted  Madame  Guyon’s  views,  and  a  kind  of 
:sect  was  soon  organized  at  court,  of  which  the  Dukes  de  Beauvilliers  and 
«de  Chevreuse,  Fenelon  and  Madame  Guyon  were  the  leaders.  The  bishop  of 
Chartres,  in  whose  diocese  the  establishment  was,  soon  perceived  what  the 
consequences  would  be  of  allowing  an  exalted,  quintessentiated  form  of 
mysticism  to  spread  through  a  community  of  young  girls.  He  warned 
Madame  de  Maintenon ;  and  this  lady  accordingly  desired  that  Madame 
Guyon’s  works  and  opinions  should  be  examined  by  a  committee  composed  of 
Bosseut,  M.  de  Noailles,  bishop  of  Chalons,  and  Tronson,  superior  of  the 
ecclesiastical  college  of  St.  Sulpice,  in  Paris.  Fenelon  had  openly  taken 
Madame  Guyon’s  part ;  he  was  therefore  quite  as  much  on  his  trial  as  the  fair 
disciple  of  Molinos;  but  he  expressly  declared  that  he  would  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  examiners,  especially  that  of  Bossuet ;  and,  as  a  reward  for  his 
submission,  Madame  de  Maintenon  secured  his  nomination  to  the  archbishop¬ 
ric  of  Cambrai.  The  disappointment  was  general ;  and  the  Countess  de 
Guiche,  among  many  others,  is  said  to  have  been  so  mortified,  that  she  could 
not  conceal  her  tears.  In  order  to  secure  by  other  means  the  authority  which 
his  nomination  to  the  see  of  Cambrai  could  not  give  him,  Fenelon  courted  the 
Jesuits,  openly  acknowledged  his  sympathy  for  them,  and  did  his  utmost  to 
conciliate  men  whose  power  at  Versailles  was  then  without  control. 

The  result  of  the  conference  held  at  Issy  proved  null ;  Madame  Guyon 
persevered  in  promulgating  the  principles  of  Molinos,  and  Quietism  seemed  to 
spread  more  rapidly  than  ever.  Exasperated  at  Fenelon’s  questionable  be¬ 
havior,  and  at  the  determination  with  which  he  supported  the  condemned 
doctrines,  after  having  promised  to  yield  to  the  decision  of  the  examiners, 
Bossuet  prepared  his  celebrated  Instructions  sur  les  Etats  d  Oraison.  Fenelon, 
however,  was  ready  beforehand ;  he  refused  to  approve  the  work  of  the 
bishop  of  Meaux,  and  published  in  support  of  his  opinions  the  well-known 
volume  containing  the  maxims  of  the  saints  on  the  spiritual  life.  Madame 
Guyon  was  arrested,  Fenelon  exiled  in  his  diocese,  and  the  pope  requested  to 
pronounce  judgment  in  a  case  respecting  which  there  could  hardly  be  any 
difficulty.  The  archbishop  of  Cambrai  was  condemned,  and  whatever  may 
have  been  his  errors  during  the  course  of  this  affair,  he  redeemed  them  by  the 
dignity  with  which  he  bore  his  disgrace. 

Bossuet  was  the  real  head  and  the  pride  of  the  great  Catholic  Church  of 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


i  S  i 


i/i  5] 

France  in  the  seventeenth  century;  what  he  approved  of  was  approved  of  by 
the  immense  majority  of  the  French  clergy,  what  he  condemned  was  con¬ 
demned  by  them.  It  was  with  pain  and  not  without  having  sought  to  escape 
therefrom  that  he  found  himself  obliged,  at  the  assembly  of  the  clergy  in  1682, 
to  draw  up  the  solemn  declaration  of  the  Gallican  Church.  The  meeting  of 
the  clergy  had  been  called  forth  by  the  eternal  discussions  of  the  civil  power 
with  the  court  of  Rome  on  the  question  of  the  rights  of  regale ,  that  is  to  say, 
the  rights  of  the  sovereign  to  receive  the  revenues  of  vacant  bishoprics  and  to 
appoint  to  benefices  belonging  to  them.  The  French  bishops  were  of  indepen¬ 
dent  spirit;  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  Francis  de  Harlay,  was  on  bad  terms  with 
Pope  Innocent  XI. ;  Bossuet  managed  to  moderate  the  discussions  and  kept 
within  suitable  bounds  the  declaration  which  he  could  not  avoid.  He  had 
always  taught  and  maintained  what  was  proclaimed  by  the  assembly  of  the 
clergy  of  France,  that  “St.  Peter  and  his  successors,  vicars  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  whole  Church  itself  received  from  God  authority  over  only  spiritual  matters 
and  such  as  appertain  to  salvation,  and  not  over  temporal  and  civil  matters, 
in  such  sort  that  kings  and  sovereigns  are  not  subject  to  any  ecclesiastical 
power,  by  order  of  God,  in  temporal  matters,  and  can  not  be  deposed  directly 
or  indirectly  by  authority  of  the  keys  of  the  Church;  finally  that,  though  the 
pope  has  the  principal  part  in  questions  of  faith,  and  though  his  decrees  con¬ 
cern  all  the  churches  and  each  church  severally,  his  judgment  is,  nevertheless, 
not  irrefragable,  unless  the  consent  of  the  Church  intervene.”  Old  doctrines 
in  the  Church  of  France,  but  never  before  so  solemnly  declared  and  made 
incumbent  upon  the  teaching  of  all  the  faculties  of  theology  in  the  kingdom. 

Bossuet  had  died  on  the  12th  of  April,  1704.  The  king  was  about  to 
bring  the  Jansenist  question  before  his  bed  of  justice  when  he  fell  ill:  “  I  am 
sorry  to  leave  the  affairs  of  the  Church  in  the  state  in  which  they  are,”  he  said 
to  his  councillors;  “I  am  perfectly  ignorant  in  the  matter;  you  know  and  I 
call  you  to  witness  that  I  have  done  nothing  therein  but  what  you  wanted, 
and  that  I  have  done  all  you  wanted  ;  it  is  you  who  will  answer  before  God 
for  all  that  has  been  done,  whether  too  much  or  too  little;  I  charge  you  with 
it  before  Him,  and  I  have  a  clear  conscience ;  I  am  but  a  know-nothing  who 
have  left  myself  to  your  guidance.”  An  awful  appeal  from  a  dying  king  to 
the  guides  of  his  conscience;  he  had  dispeopled  his  kingdom,  reduced  to  exile, 
despair  or  falsehood  fifteen  hundred  thousand  of  his  subjects,  but  the  memory 
of  the  persecutions  inflicted  upon  the  Protestants  did  not  trouble  him ;  they 
were,  for  him,  rather  a  pledge  of  his  salvation  and  of  his  acceptance  before 
God ;  he  was  thinking  of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  holy  priests  exiled  or  im¬ 
prisoned,  the  nuns  driven  from  their  convent,  the  division  among  the  bishops, 
the  scandal  among  the  faithful;  the  great  burden  of  absolute  power  was 
evident  to  his  eyes;  he  sought  to  let  it  fall  back  upon  the  shoulders  of  those 
who  had  enticed  him  or  urged  him  upon  that  fatal  path.  A  vain  attempt  in 
the  eyes  of  men,  whatever  may  be  the  judgment  of  God’s  sovereign  mercy; 
history  has  left  weighingupon  Louis  XIV.  the  crushing  weight  of  the  religious 
persecutions  ordered  under  his  reign. 


182 


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[1661 


Pascal,  had  he  been  born  later,  would  have  remained  independent  and 
proud,  from  the  nature  of  his  mind  and  of  his  character,  as  well  as  from  the 
connection  he  had  full  early  with  Port-Royal,  where  they  did  not  rear  court¬ 
iers ;  he  died,  however,  at  thirty-nine,  in  1661,  the  very  year  in  which  Louis 
XIV.  began  to  govern.  Born  at  Clermont  in  Auvergne,  educated  at  his 
father’s  and  by  his  father,  though  it  was  not  thought  desirable  to  let  him 
study  mathematics,  he  had  already  discovered  by  himself  the  first  thirty-two 
propositions  of  Euclid.  Richelieu,  however,  died  three  years  later,  without 
having  done  anything  for  the  children  who  had  impressed  him,  beyond  giving 
their  father  a  share  in  the  superintendence  of  Rouen  ;  he  thus  put  them  in 
the  way  of  the  great  Corneille,  who  was  affectionately  kind  to  Jacqueline,  but 
took  no  particular  notice  of  Blaise  Pascal.  The  latter  was  seventeen;  he  had 
already  written  his  Traite  des  Coniques  ( Treatise  on  Conics)  and  begun  to 
occupy  himself  with  “his  arithmetical  machine,”  as  his  sister,  Madame  Perier, 
calls  it.  At  twenty-three  he  had  ceased  to  apply  his  mind  to  human  siences ; 
“when  he  afterward  discovered  the  roulette  (cycloid),  it  was  without  thinking,” 
says  Madame  Perier,  “and  to  distract  his  attention  from  a  severe  tooth-ache  he 
had.”  He  was  not  twenty-four  when  anxiety  for  his  salvation  and  for  the 
glory  of  God  had  taken  complete  possession  of  his  soul. 

The  Provincials  could  not  satisfy  for  long  the  pious  ardor  of  Pascal’s 
soul  ;  he  took  in  hand  his  great  work  on  the  Verite  de  la  Religion ,  but  unfor¬ 
tunately  was  unable  to  finish  it.  “  God,  who  had  inspired  my  brother  with 
this  design  and  with  all  his  thoughts,”  writes  his  sister,  “did  not  permit  him 
to  bring  it  to  its  completion,  for  reasons  to  us  unknown.” 

In  1627,  four  years  after  Pascal,  and,  like  him,  in  a  family  of  the  long 
robe,  was  born,  at  Dijon,  his  only  rival  in  that  great  art  of  writing  prose 
which  established  the  superiority  of  the  French  language.  At  sixteen, 
Bossuet  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  drawing-room  of  Madame  de  Ram- 
bouillet,  and  the  great  Conde  was  pleased  to  attend  his  theological  examina¬ 
tions.  He  was  already  famous  at  court  as  a  preacher  and  a  polemist  when 
the  king  gave  him  the  title  of  bishop  of  Condom,  almost  immediately  inviting 
him  to  become  preceptor  to  the  dauphin. 

Bossuet  labored  conscientiously  to  instruct  his  little  prince,  studying  for 
him  and  with  him  the  classical  authors,  preparing  grammatical  expositions, 
and,  lastly,  writing  for  his  edification.  The  labor  was  in  vain  ;  the  very  lofti¬ 
ness  of  his  genius,  the  extent  and  profundity  of  his  views,  rendered  Bossuet 
unfit  to  get  at  the  heart  and  mind  of  a  boy  who  was  timid,  idle  and  kept  in 
fear  by  the  king  as  well  as  by  his  governor.  The  dauphin  was  nineteen  when 
his  marriage  restored  Bossuet  to  the  Church  and  to  the  world  ;  the  king 
appointed  him  almoner  to  the  dauphiness  and,  before  long,  bishop  of  Meaux. 

He  was  writing  incessantly,  all  the  while  that  he  was  preaching  at  Meaux 
and  at  Paris,  making  funeral  orations  over  the  queen,  Maria  Theresa,  over  the 
Princess  Palatine,  Michael  le  Tellier  and  the  prince  of  Conde  ;  the  edict  of 
Nantes  had  just  been  revoked  :  controversy  with  the  Protestant  ministers, 
headed  by  Claude  and  Jurieu,  occupied  a  great  space  in  the  life  of  the  bishop 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


1715] 


183 


of  Meaux  ;  he  at  that  time  wrote  his  Histoire  des  Variations ,  often  unjust  and 
violent,  always  able  in  its  attacks  upon  the  Reformation. 

Bossuet  died  at  Paris  on  the  12th  of  April,  1704,  just  when  the  troubles 
of  the  Church  were  springing  up  again.  Great  was  the  consternation  among 
the  bishops  of  France,  wont  as  they  were  to  shape  themselves  by  his  counsels. 
“  Men  were  astounded  at  this  mortal’s  mortality.”  Bossuet  was  seventy- 
three. 

A  month  later,  on  the  13th  of  May,  Father  Bourdaloue  in  his  turn  died  : 
a  model  of  close  logic  and  moral  austerity,  with  a  stiff  and  manly  eloquence, 
so  impressed  with  the  miserable  insufficiency  of  human  efforts,  that  he  said  as 
he  was  dying,  “  My  God,  I  have  wasted  life,  it  is  just  that  Thou  recall  it.” 
There  remained  only  Fenelon  in  the  first  rank,  which  Massillon  did  not  as  yet 
dispute  with  him.  Malebranche  was  living  retired  in  his  cell  at  the  Oratory, 
seldom  speaking,  writing  his  Recherches  snr  la  Verite  ( Researches  into  Truth) 
and  his  Entretiens  sur  la  Metaphysique  ( Discourses  on  Metaphysics ),  bolder  in 
thought  than  he  was  aware  of  or  wished,  sincere  and  natural  in  his  medita¬ 
tions  as  well  as  in  his  style. 

Fenelon  was  born  in  Perigord,  at  the  castle  of  Fenelon,  on  the  6th  of 

August,  1651.  Like  Cardinal  de  Retz  he  belonged  to  an  ancient  and  noble 

house,  and  was  destined  from  his  youth  for  the  Church.  He  had  held  himself 

modestly  aloof,  occupied  with  confirming  new  Catholics  in  their  conversion  or 

with  preaching  to  the  Protestants  of  Poitou  ;  he  had  written  nothing  but  his 
* 

Traite  de  /’ Education  des  Filles,  intended  for  the  family  of  the  duke  of  Beauvil- 
liers,  and  a  book  on  the  minister e  du  pasteur.  He  was  in  bad  odor  with  Har- 
lay,  archbishop  of  Paris,  who  had  said  to  him  curtly  one  day:  “You  want  to 
escape  notice,  M.  Abbe,  and  you  will ;”  nevertheless,  when  Louis  XIV.  chose 
the  duke  of  Beauvilliers  as  governor  to  his  grandson,  the  duke  of  Burgundy, 
the  duke  at  once  called  Fenelon,  then  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  to  the  impor¬ 
tant  post  of  preceptor. 

Fenelon’s  best  known  work  is  Telemaque .  “  It  is  a  fabulous  narrative,” 

he  himself  says,  “  in  the  form  of  a  heroic  poem,  like  Homer’s  or  Virgil’s, 
wherein  I  have  set  forth  the  principal  actions  that  are  meet  for  a  prince  whose 
birth  points  him  out  as  destined  to  reign.  I  did  it  at  a  time  when  I  was 
charmed  with  the  marks  of  confidence  and  kindness  showered  upon  me  by  the 
king.” 

Telemaque  was  published,  without  any  author’s  name  and  by  an  indiscre¬ 
tion  of  the  copyist’s,  on  the  6th  of  April,  1699.  Fenelon  was  in  exile  at  his 
diocese ;  public  rumor  before  long  attributed  the  work  to  him ;  the  Maximes 
des  Saints  had  just  been  condemned,  Telemaque  was  seized,  the  printers  were 
punished  ;  some  copies  had  escaped  the  police  ;  the  book  was  reprinted  in 
Holland  ;  all  Europe  read  it,  finding  therein  the  allusion  and  undermeanings 
against  which  Fenelon  defended  himself.  Louis  XIV.  was  more  than  ever 
angry  with  the  archbishop. 

Fenelon  died  in  disgrace,  leaving  among  his  friends,  so  diminished  already 


1 84  FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION.  [1661 

by  death,  an  immeasurable  gap,  and  among  his  adversaries  themselves  the 
feeling  of  a  great  loss. 

Leaving  the  desert  and  the  Church  and  once  more  entering  the  world  we 
immediately  encounter,  among  women,  one,  and  one  only,  in  the  first  rank — 
Marie  de  Rabutin-Chantal,  marchioness  of  Sevigne,  born  at  Paris  on  the  5th 
of  February,  1627,  five  months  before  Bossuet.  Madame  de  Sevigne  is  a 
friend  whom  we  read  over  and  over  again,  whose  emotions  we  share,  to  whom 
we  go  for  an  hour’s  distraction  and  delightful  chat.  Madame  de  Sevigne’s 
letters  to  her  daughter  are  superior  to  all  her  other  letters,  charming  as  they 
are ;  when  she  writes  to  M.  de  Pomponne,  to  M.  de  Coulanges,  to  M.  de 
Bussy,  the  style  is  less  familiar,  the  heart  less  open,  the  soul  less  stirred ;  she 
writes  to  her  daughter  as  she  would  speak  to  her;  it  is  not  letters,  it  is  an 
animated  and  charming  conversation,  touching  upon  everything,  embellishing 
everything  with  an  inimitable  grace. 

After  having  suffered  so  much  from  separation  and  so  often  traversed 
France  to  visit  her  daughter  in  Provence,  Madame  de  Sevigne  had  the 
happiness  to  die  in  her  house  at  Grignan.  She  was  sixty-nine  when  an  attack 
of  small-pox  carried  her  off  on  the  19th  of  April,  1696. 

All  the  women  who  had  been  writers  in  her  time  died  before  Madame  de 
Sevigne.  Madame  de  Motteville,  a  judicious  and  sensible  woman,  more 
independent  at  the  bottom  of  her  heart  than  in  externals,  had  died  in  1689, 
exclusively  occupied,  from  the  time  that  she  lost  Queen  Anne  of  Austria,  in 
works  of  piety  and  in  drawing  up  her  Memoires.  Mdlle.  de  Montpensier, 
“  my  great  Mademoiselle,”  as  Madame  de  Sevigne  used  to  call  her,  had  died 
at  Paris  on  the  5th  of  April,  1693,  after  a  violent  illness,  as  feverish  as  her 
life.  A  few  days  after  Mademoiselle,  died,  likewise  at  Paris,  Madelaine  de  la 
Vergne,  marchioness  of  La  Fayette,  the  most  intimate  friend  of  Madame  de 
Sevigne.  Sensible,  clever,  a  sweet  and  safe  acquaintance,  Madame  de  La 
Fayette  was  as  simple  and  as  true  in  her  relations  with  her  confidants  as  in  her 
writings.  La  Princesse  de  Cleves  alone  has  outlived  the  times  and  the  friends 
of  Madame  de  La  Fayette. 

Madame  de  La  Fayette  had  in  her  life  one  great  sorrow  which  had 
completed  the  ruin  of  her  health.  On  the  16th  of  March,  1680,  after  the 
closest  and  longest  of  intimacies,  she  had  lost  her  best  friend,  the  duke  of 
La  Rochefoucauld.  He  had  lost  his  son  at  the  passage  of  the  Rhine,  in 
1672.  He  was  ill,  suffering  cruelly.  “  I  was  yesterday  at  M.  de  La  Roche¬ 
foucauld’s,”  writes  Madame  de  Sevigne  in  1680:  “I  found  him  uttering  loud 
shrieks  :  his  pain  was  such  that  his  endurance  was  quite  overcome  without  a 
single  scrap  remaining  ;  the  excessive  pain  upset  him  to  such  a  degree  that 
he  was  setting  out  in  the  open  air  with  a  violent  fever  upon  him.  He  begged 
me  to  send  you  word  and  to  assure  you  that  the  wheel-broken  do  not  suffer 
during  a  single  moment  what  he  suffers  one  half  of  his  life,  and  so  he  wishes 
for  death  as  a  happy  release.”  He  died  with  Bossuet  at  his  pillow.  M.  de 
La  Rochefoucauld  thought  worse  of  men  than  of  life.  “  I  have  scarcely  any 
fear  of  things,”  he  had  said :  “lam  not  at  all  afraid  of  death.”  With  all  his 


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185 


1715] 

rare  qualities  and  great  opportunities,  he  had  done  nothing  but  frequently 
embroil  matters  in  which  he  had  meddled,  and  had  never  been  anything  but  a 
great  lord  with  a  good  deal  of  wit.  Actionless  penetration  and  skeptical 
severity  may  sometimes  clear  the  judgment  and  the  thoughts,  but  they  give 
no  force  or  influence  that  has  power  over  men. 

Cardinal  de  Retz  had  more  wits,  more  courage  and  more  resolution  than 
the  duke  of  La  Rochefoucauld  ;  he  was  more  ambitious  and  more  bold  ;  he 
was,  like  him,  meddlesome,  powerless  and  dangerous  to  the  State.  He 
thought  himself  capable  of  superseding  Cardinal  Mazarin  and  far  more  worthy 
than  he  of  being  premier  minister;  but  every  time  he  found  himself  opposed 
to  the  able  Italian,  he  was  beaten.  All  that  he  displayed,  during  the  Fronde, 
of  address,  combination,  intrigue  and  resolution  would  barely  have  sufficed 
to  preserve  his  name  in  history,  if  he  had  not  devoted  his  leisure  in  his 
retirement  to  writing  his  Memoires .  Vigorous,  animated,  always  striking, 
often  amusing,  sometimes  showing  rare  nobleness  and  high-mindedness,  his 
stories  and  his  portraits  transport  us  to  the  very  midst  of  the  scenes  he 
desires  to  describe  and  the  personages  he  makes  the  actors  in  them.  His 
rapid,  nervous,  picturesque  style,  is  the  very  image  of  that  little  dark,  quick, 
agile  man  more  soldier  than  bishop,  and  more  intriguer  than  soldier,  faithfully 
and  affectionately  beloved  by  his  friends,  detested  by  his  very  numerous 
enemies,  and  dreaded  by  many  people,  for  the  causticity  of  his  tongue,  long 
after  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde  had  ceased,  and  he  was  reduced  to  be  a 
wanderer  in  foreign  lands,  still  archbishop  of  Paris  without  being  able  to  set 
foot  in  it. 

Mesdames  de  Sevigne  and  de  La  Fayette  were  of  the  court,  as  were  the 
duke  of  La  Rochefoucauld  and  Cardinal  de  Retz ;  La  Bruyere  lived  all  his 
life  rubbing  shoulders  with  the  court ;  he  knew  it,  he  described  it,  but  he  was 
not  of  it  and  could  not  be  of  it.  Nothing  is  known  of  his  family.  He  was 
born  at  Dourdan,  in  1639,  and  had  just  bought  a  post  in  the  Treasury 
( trtsorier  de  France')  at  Caen,  when  Bossuet,  who  knew  him,  induced  him  to 
remove  to  Paris  as  teacher  of  history  to  the  duke,  grandson  of  the  great 
Conde.  He  remained  forever  attached  to  the  person  of  the  prince,  who  gave 
him  a  thousand  crowns  a  year,  and  he  lived  to  the  day  of  his  death  at  Conde’s 
house. 

More  earnest  and  less  bitter  than  La  Rochefoucauld,  and  as  brilliant  and 
as  firm  as  Cardinal  de  Retz,  La  Bruyere  was  a  more  sincere  believer  than 
either. 

We  pass  from  prose  to  poetry,  from  La  Bruyere  to  Corneille,  who  had 
died  in  1684,  too  late  for  his  fame,  in  spite  of  the  vigorous  returns  of  genius 
which  still  flash  forth  sometimes  in  his  feeblest  works.  Through  the  regency 
and  the  Fronde,  Corneille  had  continued  to  occupy  almost  alone  the  great 
French  stage.  Rotrou,  his  sometime  rival  with  his  piece  of  Venceslas  and 
ever  tenderly  attached  to  him,  had  died,  in  1650,  at  Dreux,  of  which  he  was 
civil  magistrate.  An  epidemic  was  ravaging  the  town,  and  he  was  urged  to 
go  away  :  “  I  am  the  only  one  who  can  maintain  good  order,  and  I  shall 


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[1661 


1 86 

remain,”  he  replied  :  “  at  the  moment  of  my  writing  to  you  the  bells  are 
tolling  for  the  twenty-second  person  to-day ;  perhaps,  to-morrow  it  will  be  for 
me,  but  my  conscience  has  marked  out  my  duty  ;  God’s  will  be  done  !  ”  Two 
days  later  he  was  dead. 

Posterity  has  done  for  Corneille  more  than  Louis  XIV.  could  have  done; 
it  has  left  in  oblivion  Agesilas ,  Attila ,  Titus  and  Pulcherie,  it  has  preserved 
the  memory  of  the  triumphs  only.  The  poet  was  accustomed  to  say  with  a 
smile,  when  he  was  reproached  with  his  slowness  and  emptiness  in  conversa¬ 
tion  :  “  I  am  Peter  Corneille  all  the  same.”  The  world  has  passed  similar 
judgment  on  his  works  ;  in  spite  of  the  rebuffs  of  his  latter  years,  he  has 
remained  “  the  great  Corneille.” 

When  he  died,  in  1684,  Racine,  elected  by  the  Academy  in  1673,  found 
himself  on  the  point  of  becoming  its  director :  he  claimed  the  honor  of 
presiding  at  the  obsequies  of  Corneille.  The  latter  had  not  been  admitted  to 
the  body  until  1641,  after  having  undergone  two  rebuffs.  Corneille  had  died 
in  the  night.  The  Academy  decided  in  favor  of  Abbe  de  Lavau,  the 
outgoing  director.  “  Nobody  but  you  could  pretend  to  bury  Corneille,”  said 
Benserade  to  Racine,  “  yet  you  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  chance.”  It 
was  only  when  he  received  into  the  Academy  Thomas  Corneille,  in  his  brother’s 
place,  that  Racine  could  praise,  to  his  heart’s  content,  the  master  and  rival 
who,  in  old  age,  had  done  him  the  honor  to  dread  him.  At  that  time,  his 
own  dramatic  career  was  already  ended.  He  was  born,  in  1639,  at  La  Ferte- 
Milon ;  he  had  made  his  first  appearance  on  the  stage  in  1664,  with  the 
Freres  ennemis ,  and  had  taken  leave  of  it  in  1673  with  Phedre. 

Racine  for  a  long  while  enjoyed  the  favors  of  the  king,  who  went  so  far 
as  to  tolerate  the  attachment  the  poet  had  always  testified  toward  Port-Royal. 
Racine,  moreover,  showed  tact  in  humoring  the  susceptibilities  of  Louis  XIV. 
and  his  counselors.  All  this  caution  did  not  prevent  him,  however,  from 
displeasing  the  king.  After  a  conversation  he  had  held  with  Madame  de 
Maintenon  about  the  miseries  of  the  people,  she  asked  him  for  a  memorandum 
on  the  subject.  The  king  demanded  the  name  of  the  author  and  flew  out  at 
him.  “  Because  he  is  a  perfect  master  of  verse,”  said  he,  “  does  he  think  he 
knows  everything?  And,  because  he  is  a  great  poet,  does  he  want  to  be 
minister?”  On  the  21st  of  April,  1699,  the  great  poet,  the  scrupulous 
Christian,  the  noble  and  delicate  painter  of  the  purest  passions  of  the  soul, 
expired  at  Paris  at  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  leaving  life  without  regret,  spite  of 
all  the  successes  with  which  he  had  been  crowned. 

Boileau  himself  had  entered  the  arena  of  letters  at  three-and-twenty, 
after  a  sickly  and  melancholy  childhood.  The  Art  Poctique  and  the  Lutrin 
appeared  in  1674;  the  first  nine  Satires  and  several  of  the  Epistles  had 
preceded  them.  Rather  a  witty,  shrewd  and  able  versifier  than  a  great  poet, 
Boileau  displayed  in  the  Lutrin  a  richness  and  suppleness  of  fancy  which  his 
other  works  had  not  foreshadowed.  He  survived  all  his  friends;  La  Fontaine, 
born  in  1621  at  Chateau-Thierry,  had  died  in  1695.  La  Fontaine  has  been 
described  as  a  solitary  being,  without  wit  and  without  external  charm  of  any 


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187 


kind.  We  are  told  that  La  Fontaine  knew  nothing  of  natural  history;  he 
knew  and  loved  animals ;  up  to  his  time,  fable-writers  had  been  merely 
philosophers  or  satirists ;  he  was  the  first  who  was  a  poet,  unique  not  only  in 
France  but  in  Europe,  discovering  the  deep  and  secret  charm  of  nature, 
animating  it  with  his  inexhaustible  and  graceful  genius,  giving  lessons  to  men 
from  the  example  of  animals,  without  making  the  latter  speak  like  man,  ever 
supple  and  natural,  sometimes  elegant  and  noble,  with  penetration  beneath 
the  cloak  of  his  simplicity,  inimitable  in  the  line  which  he  had  chosen  from 
taste,  from  instinct,  and  not  from  want  of  power  to  transport  his  genius 
elsewhere. 

A  charming  and  a  curious  being,  serious  and  simple,  profound  and 
childlike,  winning  by  reason  of  his  very  vagaries,  his  good-natured  originality, 
his  helplessness  in  common  life,  La  Fontaine  knew  how  to  estimate  the 
literary  merits  as  well  as  the  moral  qualities  of  his  illustrious  friends ;  Moliere, 
in  particular,  was  appreciated  by  him  at  once,  and  he  commemorated  the 
death  of  the  great  comic  writer  in  a  touching  epitaph. 

Shakespeare  might  dispute  with  Corneille  and  Racine  the  scepter  of 
tragedy.  He  had  succeeded  in  showing  himself  as  full  of  power,  with  more 
truth,  as  the  one,  and  as  full  of  tenderness,  with  more  profundity,  as  the 
other;  Moliere  is  superior  to  him  in  originality,  abundance  and  perfection  of 
characters ;  he  yields  to  him  neither  in  range,  nor  penetration,  nor  complete 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  The  lives  of  these  two  great  geniuses,  authors 
and  actors  both  together,  present  in  other  respects  certain  features  of 
resemblance. 

It  has  been  a  labor  of  love  to  go  into  some  detail  over  the  lives,  works 
and  characters  of  the  great  writers  during  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  They  did 
too  much  honor  to  their  time  and  their  country,  they  had  too  great  and  too 
deep  an  effect  in  France  and  in  Europe  upon  the  successive  developments  of 
the  human  intellect  to  refuse  them  an  important  place  in  the  history  of  that 
France  to  whose  influence  and  glory  they  so  powerfully  contributed. 

In  this  brief  survey  of  French  literature  we  should  not  forget  to  mention 
the  French  Academy,  which  had  grown  and  found  its  liberty  had  increased 
under  the  sway  of  Louis  XIV. ;  it  held  its  sittings  at  the  Louvre,  and,  as 
regarded  complimentary  addresses  to  the  king  on  state  occasions,  it  took  rank 
with  the  sovereign  bodies.  The  Academy  of  Medals  and  Inscriptions  was 
founded  by  Colbert  in  1662,  “  in  order  to  render  the  acts  of  the  king  immortal 
by  deciding  the  legends  of  the  medals  struck  in  his  honor.”  Pontchartrain 
raised  to  forty  the  number  of  the  members  of  the  petite  academie ,  as  it  was 
called,  extended  its  functions,  and  entrusted  it  thenceforth  with  the  charge  of 
publishing  curious  documents  relating  to  the  history  of  France.  The 
Academy  of  Sciences  had  already  for  many  years  had  sittings  in  one  of  the 
rooms  of  the  king’s  library.  Like  the  French  Academy,  it  had  owed  its 
origin  to  private  meetings  at  which  Descartes,  Gassendi  and  young  Pascal 
were  accustomed  to  be  present.  Colbert  had  the  true  scholar’s  taste ;  he  had 
brought  Cassini  from  Italy  to  take  the  direction  of  the  new  Observatory;  he 


1 88 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1661 


had  ordered  surveys  for  a  general  map  of  France;  he  had  founded  the 
Journal  dcs  Savants ;  literary  men,  whether  Frenchmen  or  foreigners,  enjoyed 
the  king’s  bounties ;  Colbert  had  even  conceived  the  plan  of  a  universal 
academy,  a  veritable  forerunner  of  the  Institute.  The  arts  were  not 
forgotten  in  this  grand  project ;  the  Academy  of  Painting  and  Sculpture 
dated  from  the  regency  of  Anne  of  Austria  ;  the  pretensions  of  the  Masters 
of  Arts  ( maitres  es  arts),  who  placed  an  interdict  upon  artists  not  belonging 
to  their  corporation,  had  driven  Charles  Lebrun,  himself  the  son  of  a  Master, 
to  agitate  for  its  foundation  ;  Colbert  added  to  it  the  Academy  of  Music  and 
the  Academy  of  Architecture,  and  created  the  French  school  of  painting  at 
Rome. 

Philip  of  Campagne  deserves  a  prominent  place  in  the  brilliant  roll  of 
French  seventeenth  century  artists.  He  had  passionately  admired  Le 
Poussin,  he  had  attached  himself  to  Lesueur.  This  upright,  simple  pains¬ 
taking  soul,  this  inflexible  conscience,  looking  continually  into  the  human 
face,  had  preserved  in  his  admirable  portraits  the  life  and  the  expression  of 
nature  which  he  was  incessantly  trying  to  seize  and  reproduce.  Lebrun  was 
preferred  to  him  as  first  painter  to  the  king  by  Louis  XIV.  himself ;  Philip 
of  Champagne  was  delighted  thereat ;  he  lived  in  retirement,  in  fidelity  to  his 
friends  of  Port-Royal,  whose  austere  and  vigorous  lineaments  he  loved  to 
trace,  beginning  with  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  and  ending  with  his  own  daughter, 
Sister  Suzanne,  who  was  restored  to  health  by  the  prayers  of  Mother  Agnes 
Arnauld. 

Lebrun  was  as  able  a  coutier  as  he  was  a  good  painter:  the  clever 
arrangement  of  his  pictures,  the  richness  and  brilliancy  of  his  talent,  his 
faculty  for  applying  art  to  industry,  secured  him  with  Louis  XIV.  a  sway 
which  lasted  as  long  as  his  life.  He  was  first  painter  to  the  king,  he  was 
director  of  the  Gobelins  and  of  the  Academy  of  Painting.  After  Lebrun’s 
death  (1690)  Mignard  became  first  painter  to  the  king.  He  painted  the 
ceiling  of  the  Val-de-Grace  which  was  celebrated  by  Moliere,  but  it  was  as  a 
painter  of  portraits  that  he  excelled  in  France.  To  Mignard  succeeded 
Rigaud  as  portrait-painter,  worthy  to  preserve  the  features  of  Bossuet  and 
Fenelon.  The  unity  of  organization,  the  brilliancy  of  style,  the  imposing 
majesty  which  the  king’s  taste  had  everywhere  stamped  about  him  upon  art 
as  well  as  upon  literature,  were  by  this  time  beginning  to  decay  simultane¬ 
ously  with  the  old  age  of  Louis  XIV.,  with  the  reverses  of  his  arms  and  the 
increasing  gloominess  of  his  court ;  the  artists  who  had  illustrated  his  reign 
were  dying- one  after  another  as  well  as  the  orators  and  the  poets ;  the 
sculptor  James  Sarazin  had  been  gone  some  time  ;  Puget  and  the  Anguiers 
were  dead,  as  well  as  Mansard,  Perrault  and  Le  Notre;  Girardon  had  but  a 
few  months  to  live  ;  only  Coysevox  was  destined  to  survive  the  king  whose 
statue  he  had  many  a  time  molded.  The  great  age  was  disappearing  slowly 
and  sadly,  throwing  out  to  the  last  some  noble  gleams,  like  the  aged  king 
who  had  constantly  served  as  its  center  and  guide,  like  olden  France  which  he 
had  crowned  with  its  last  and  its  most  splendid  wreath. 


1715] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATIONS. 


I89 


The  principle  of  absolute  power,  firmly  fixed  in  the  young  king’s  mind, 
began  to  pervade  his  court  from  the  time  that  he  disgraced  Fouquet  and 
ceased  to  dissemble  his  affection  for  Mdlle.  de  La  Valliere.  She  was  young, 
charming  and  modest.  Of  all  the  king’s  favorites  she  alone  loved  him 
sincerely.  “  What  a  pity  he  is  a  king!”  she  would  say.  Louis  XIV.  made 
her  a  duchess ;  but  all  she  cared  about  was  to  see  him  and  please  him.  When 
Madame  de  Montespan  began  to  supplant  her  in  the  king’s  favor,  the  grief  of 
Madame  de  La  Valliere  was  so  great  that  she  thought  she  should  die  of  it. 
Then  she  turned  to  God,  in  penitence  and  despair  ;  and,  later  on,  it  was  at  her 
side  that  Madame  de  Montespan,  in  her  turn  forced  to  quit  the  court,  went  to 
seek  advice  and  pious  consolation.  “This  soul  will  be  a  miracle  of  grace/’ 
Bossuet  had  said. 

Madame  de  Montespan  was  haughty,  passionate,  “with  hair  dressed  in  a 
thousand  ringlets,  a  majestic  beauty  to  show  off  to  the  ambassadors;”  she 
openly  paraded  the  favor  she  was  in,  accepting  and  angling  for  the  graces  the 
king  was  pleased  to  do  her  and  hers,  having  the  superintendence  of  the  house¬ 
hold  of  the  queen,  whom  she  insulted  without  disguise,  to  the  extent  of 
wounding  the  king  himself :  “  Pray  consider  that  she  is  your  mistress,”  he 
said  one  day  to  his  favorite.  The  scandal  was  great ;  Bossuet  attempted  the 
task  of  stopping  it.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Jubilee:  neither  the  king  nor 
Madame  de  Montespan  had  lost  all  religious  feeling;  the  wrath  of  God  and 
the  refusal  of  the  sacraments  had  terrors  for  them  still. 

The  great  Mademoiselle  had  just  attempted  to  show  her  independence ; 
tired  of  not  being  married,  she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  a  love-match ;  she 
did  not  espouse  Lauzun  just  then,  the  king  broke  off  the  marriage.  “  I  will 
make  you  so  great,”  he  said  to  Lauzun,  “  that  you  shall  have  no  cause  to 
regret  what  I  am  taking  from  you  ;  meanwhile,  I  make  you  duke  and  peer 
and  marshal  of  France.”  “Sir,”  broke  in  Lauzun  insolently,  “you  have 
made  so  many  dukes  that  it  is  no  longer  an  honor  to  be  one,  and,  as  for  the 
baton  of  marshal  of  France,  your  Majesty  can  give  it  me  when  I  have  earned 
it  by  my  services.”  He  was  before  long  sent  to  Pignerol,  where  he  passed 
ten  years.  There  he  met  Fouquet  and  that  mysterious  personage  called  the 
Iron  Mask,  whose  name  has  not  yet  been  discovered  to  a  certainty  by  means 
of  all  the  most  ingenious  conjectures.  It  was  only  by  settling  all  her  property 
on  the  duke  of  Maine  after  herself  that  Mademoiselle  purchased  Lauzun’s 
release.  The  king  had  given  his  posts  to  the  prince  of  Marcillac,  son  of  La 
Rochefoucauld. 

All  the  style  of  living  at  court  was  in  accordance  with  the  magnificence 
of  the  king  and  his  courtiers ;  Colbert  was  beside  himself  at  the  sums  the 
queen  lavished  on  play.  Madame  de  Montespan  lost  and  won  back  four 
millions  in  one  night  at  bassette ;  Mdlle.de  Fontanges  gave  away  twenty 
thousand  crowns’  worth  of  New  Year’s  gifts.  A  new  power,  however,  was 
beginning  to  appear  on  the  horizon,  with  such  modesty  and  backwardness 
that  none  could  as  yet  discern  it,  least  of  all  could  the  king.  Madame  de 
Montespan  had  looked  out  for  some  one  to  take  care  of  and  educate  her 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1661 


190 

children.  She  had  thought  of  Madame  Scarron  ;  she  considered  her  clever ; 
she  was  so  herself,  “  in  that  unique  style  which  was  peculiar  to  the  Morte- 
marts,”  said  the  duke  of  St.  Simon  ;  she  was  fond  of  conversation  ;  Madame 
Scarron  had  a  reputation  for  being  rather  a  blue-stocking ;  this  the  king  did 
not  like;  Madame  de  Montespan  had  her  way;  Madame  Scarron  took  charge 
of  the  children  secretly  and  in  an  isolated  house.  She  was  attentive,  careful, 
sensible.  The  king  was  struck  with  her  devotion  to  the  children  entrusted  to 
her.  “She  can  love,”  he  said  :  “it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  be  loved  by  her.” 
This  expression  plainly  indicated  what  was  to  happen ;  and  Madame  de 
Montespan  saw  herself  supplanted  by  Madame  Scarron.  The  widow  of  the 
deformed  poet  had  bought  the  estate  of  Maintenon  out  of  the  king’s  bounty. 
He  made  her  take  the  title.  The  recollection  of  Scarron  was  displeasing  to 
him. 

The  queen  had  died  on  the  30th  of  July,  1683,  piously  and  gently,  as  she 
had  lived.  “  This  is  the  first  sorrow  she  ever  caused  me,”  said  the  king,  thus 
rendering  homage,  in  his  superb  and  unconscious  egotism,  to  the  patient 
virtue  of  the  wife  he  had  put  to  such  cruel  trials.  Madame  de  Maintenon 
was  agitated  but  resolute.  The  date  has  never  been  ascertained  exactly  of 
the  king’s  private  marriage  with  Madame  de  Maintenon.  It  took  place 
probably  eighteen  months  or  two  years  after  the  queen’s  death  ;  the  king  was 
forty-seven,  Madame  de  Maintenon  fifty.  “  She  had  great  remains  of  beauty, 
bright  and  sprightly  eyes,  an  incomparable  grace,”  says  St.  Simon,  who 
detested  her,  “  an  air  of  ease  and  yet  of  restraint  and  respect,  a  great  deal  of 
cleverness  with  a  speech  that  was  sweet,  correct,  in  good  terms  and  naturally 
eloquent  and  brief.” 

The  chief  ornament  of  the  court  of  Versailles  was  the  duchess  of 
Burgundy.  For  the  king  and  for  Madame  de  Maintenon,  the  great  and  inex¬ 
haustible  attraction  of  this  young  lady  was  her  gayety  and  unconstrained 
ease,  tempered  by  the  most  delicate  respect,  which,  on  coming  as  quite  a 
child  to  France  from  the  court  of  Savoy,  she  had  tact  enough  to  introduce 
and  always  maintain  amid  the  most  intimate  familiarity. 

The  dauphiness  had  died  in  1690;  the  duchess  of  Burgundy  was,  there¬ 
fore,  almost  from  childhood,  queen  of  the  court  and  before  long  the  idol  of 
the  courtiers ;  it  was  around  her  that  pleasures  sprang  up  ;  it  was  for  her  that 
the  king  gave  the  entertainments  to  which  he  had  habituated  Versailles,  not 
that  for  her  sake  or  to  take  care  of  her  health  he  would  ever  consent  to 
modify  his  habits  or  make  the  least  change  in  his  plans.  “  Thank  God,  it  is 
over,”  he  exclaimed  one  day,  after  an  accident  to  the  princess  ;  “  I  shall  no 
longer  be  thwarted  in  my  trips,  and  in  all  I  desire  to  do  by  the  representa¬ 
tions  of  physicians.  I  shall  come  and  go  as  I  fancy  ;  and  I  shall  be  left  in 
peace.”  Even  in  his  court  and  among  his  most  devoted  servants,  this 
monstrous  egotism  astounded  and  scandalized  everybody. 

Flattery,  at  Versailles,  ran  a  risk  of  becoming  hypocrisy.  On  returning 
to  a  regular  life,  the  king  was  for  imposing  the  same  upon  his  whole  court  ; 
the  instinct  of  order  and  regularity,  smothered  for  awhile  in  the  hey-day  of 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


*715] 


191 


passion,  had  resumed  all  its  sway  over  the  naturally  proper  and  steady  mind 
of  Louis  XIV.  The  king  was  sincere  in  his  repentance  for  the  past,  many 
persons  in  his  court  were  as  sincere  as  he  ;  others,  who  were  not,  affected,  in 
order  to  please  him,  the  externals  of  austerity ;  absolute  power  oppressed  all 
spirits,  extorting  from  them  that  hypocritical  complaisance  which  it  is  liable 
to  engender  ;  corruption  was  already  brooding  beneath  appearances  of  piety ; 
the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  was  to  see  its  deplorable  fruits  displayed  with  a 
haste  and  a  scandal  which  are  to  be  explained  only  by  the  oppression  exer¬ 
cised  in  the  last  years  of  King  Louis  XIV. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  like  the  genius  of  this  reaction  toward 
regularity,  propriety,  order ;  all  the  responsibility  for  it  has  been  thrown  upon 
her  ;  the  good  she  did  has  disappeared  beneath  the  evil  she  allowed  or 
encouraged  ;  the  regard  lavished  upon  her  by  the  king  has  caused  illusions  as 
to  the  discreet  care  she  was  continually  taking  to  please  him.  She  was  faith¬ 
ful  to  her  friends,  so  long  as  they  were  in  favor  with  the  king  ;  if  they  had 
the  misfortune  to  displease  him,  she,  at  the  very  least,  gave  up  seeing  them  ; 
without  courage  or  hardihood  to  withstand  the  caprices  and  wishes  of  Louis 
XIV.,  she  had  gained  and  preserved  her  empire  by  dint  and  dexterity  and 
far-sighted  suppleness  beneath  the  externals  of  dignity. 

It  was  through  Madame  de  Maintenon  and  her  correspondence  with  the 
Princess  des  Ursins  that  the  private  business  between  the  two  courts  of 
France  and  Spain  was  often  carried  on.  At  Madrid  far  more  than  at 
Versailles  the  influence  of  women  was  all-powerful.  The  queen  ruled  her 
husband,  who  was  honest  and  courageous  but  without  wit  or  daring  ;  and  the 
Princess  de  Ursins  ruled  the  queen,  as  intelligent  and  as  amiable  as  her  sister 
the  duchess  of  Burgundy,  but  more  ambitious  and  more  haughty.  Louis 
XIV.  had  several  times  conceived  some  misgiving  of  the  camarcra  major’s 
influence  over  his  grandson  ;  she  had  been  disgraced  and  then  recalled ;  she 
had  finally  established  her  sway  by  her  fidelity,  ability,  dexterity  and  indom¬ 
itable  courage. 

But  the  time  came  for  Madame  des  Ursins  to  make  definitive  trial  of 
fortune’s  inconstancy.  After  having  enjoyed  unlimited  power  and  influence, 
with  great  difficulty  she  obtained  an  asylum  at  Rome,  where  she  lived  seven 
years  longer,  preserving  all  her  health,  strength,  mind  and  easy  grace  until 
she  died,  in  1722,  at  more  than  eighty-four  years  of  age,  in  obscurity  and  sad¬ 
ness,  notwithstanding  her  opulence,  but  avenged  of  her  Spanish  foes,  Cardi¬ 
nals  della  Giudice  and  Alberoni,  whom  she  met  again  at  Rome,  disgraced  and 
fugitive  like  herself. 

“  One  has  no  more  luck  at  our  age,”  Louis  XIV.  had  said  to  his  old 
friend  Marshal  Villars,  returning  from  his  most  disastrous  campaign.  It  was 
a  bitter  reflection  upon  himself  which  had  put  these  words  into  the  king’s 
mouth.  After  the  most  brilliant,  the  most  continually  and  invariably 
triumphant  of  reigns,  he  began  to  see  fortune  slipping  away  from  him  and 
the  grievous  consequences  of  his  errors  successively  overwhelming  the  State. 
“God  is  punishing  me  ;  I  have  richly  deserved  it,”  he  said  to  Marshal  Villars, 


192 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1661 


who  was  on  the  point  of  setting  out  for  the  battle  of  Denain.  The  aged  king, 
dispirited  and  beaten,  could  not  set  down  to  men  his  misfortunes  and  reverses; 
the  hand  of  God  Himself  was  raised  against  his  house;  Death  was  knocking 
double  knocks  all  round  him.  The  grand-dauphin  had  for  some  days  past 
been  ill  of  small-pox;  he  died  in  April,  1711  ;  the  duchess  of  Burgundy  was 
carried  off  by  an  attack  of  malignant  fever  in  February,  1712;  her  husband 
followed  her  within  a  week,  and  their  eldest  child,  the  duke  of  Brittany,  about 
a  month  afterward. 

There  was  universal  and  sincere  mourning  in  France  and  in  Europe.  The 
most  sinister  rumors  circulated  darkly  ;  a  base  intrigue  caused  the  duke  of 
Orleans  to  be  accused  ;  people  called  to  mind  his  taste  for  chemistry  and  even 
magic,  his  flagrant  impiety,  his  scandalous  debauchery.  Beside  himself  with 
grief  and  anger,  he  demanded  of  the  king  to  be  sent  to  the  Bastile ;  the  king 
refused  curtly,  coldly,  not  unmoved  in  his  secret  heart  by  the  perfidious  insin¬ 
uations  which  made  their  way  even  to  him,  but  too  just  and  too  sensible  to 
entertain  a  hateful  lie,  which,  nevertheless,  lay  heavy  on  the  duke  of  Orleans 
to  the  end  of  his  days. 

Darkly,  but  to  no  more  effect,  the  same  rumors  were  renewed  before 
long.  The  duke  of  Berry  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  on  the  4th  of  May, 
1714,  of  a  disease  which  presented  the  same  features  as  the  scarlet  feve^ 
( rougeole  pourpree ),  to  which  his  brother  and  sister-in-law  had  succumbed. 
The  king  was  old  and  sad  :  the  state  of  his  kingdom  preyed  upon  his  mind  * 
he  was  surrounded  by  influences  hostile  to  his  nephew,  whom  he  himself 
called  “  a  vaunter  of  crimes.”  A  child  who  was  not  five  years  old  remained 
sole  heir  to  the  throne.  Madame  de  Maintenon,  as  sad  as  the  king,  “  natur¬ 
ally  mistrustful,  addicted  to  jealousies,  susceptibilities,  suspicions,  aversions, 
spites,  and  woman’s  wiles,”  being,  moreover,  sincerely  attached  to  the  king’s 
natural  children,  was  constantly  active  on  their  behalf.  On  the  19th  of 
July,  1714,  the  king  announced  to  the  premier  president  and  the  attorney' 
general  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  that  it  was  his  pleasure  to  grant  to  the 
duke  of  Maine  and  to  the  count  of  Toulouse,  for  themselves  and  thei* 
descendants,  the  rank  of  princes  of  the  blood,  in  its  full  extent,  and  that  he 
desired  that  the  deed  should  be  enregistered  in  the  parliament.  Soon  after, 
still  under  the  same  influence,  he  made  a  will  which  was  kept  a  profound 
secret  and  which  he  sent  to  be  deposited  in  the  strong-room  (( greffe )  of  the 
parliament,  committing  the  guardianship  of  the  future  king  to  the  duke  of 
Maine,  and  placing  him,  as  well  as  his  brother,  on  the  council  of  regency, 
with  close  restrictions  as  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  who  would  be  naturally 
called  to  the  government  of  the  kingdom  during  the  minority.  The  will  was 
darkly  talked  about :  the  effect  of  the  elevation  of  bastards  to  the  rank  of 
princes  of  the  blood  had  been  terrible.  He  had  only  just  signed  his  will 
when  he  met,  at  Madame  de  Maintenon’s,  the  ex-queen  of  England.  “  I 
have  made  my  will,  Madame,”  said  he  :  “I  have  purchased  repose  ;  I  know 
the  impotence  and  uselessness  of  it.  We  can  do  all  we  please  as  long  as  we 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


193 


1715] 

are  here  ;  after  we  are  gone,  we  can  do  less  than  private  persons  ;  we  have 
only  to  look  at  what  became  of  my  father’s,  and  immediately  after  his  death 
too,  and  of  those  of  so  many  other  kings.  I  am  quite  aware  of  that  ;  but, 
in  spite  of  all  that,  it  was  desired;  and  so,  Madame,  you  see  it  has  been  done; 
come  of  it  what  may,  at  any  rate  I  shall  not  be  worried  about  it  any  more.” 
It  was  the  old  man  yielding  to  the  entreaties  and  intrigues  of  his  domestic 
circle  ;  the  judgment  of  the  king  remained  steady  and  true,  without  illusions 
and  without  prejudices. 

Death  was  coming,  however,  after  a  reign  which  had  been  so  long,  and 
had  occupied  so  much  room  in  the  world,  that  it  caused  mistakes  as  to  the 
very  age  of  the  king.  He  was  seventy-seven  ;  he  continued  to  work  with  his 
ministers ;  the  order  so  long  and  so  firmly  established  was  not  disturbed  by 
illness  any  more  than  it  had  been  by  the  reverses  and  sorrows  of  late.  The 
king  said  farewell  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  :  she  still  remained  a  little  while 
in  his  room,  and  went  out  when  he  was  no  longer  conscious.  She  had  given 
away  here  and  there  the  few  movables  that  belonged  to  her,  and  now  took 
the  road  to  St.  Cyr.  On  the  steps  she  met  Marshal  Villeroy:  “  Good-by, 
marshal,”  she  said  curtly  and  covered  up  her  face  in  her  coifs.  He  it  was  who 
sent  her  news  of  the  king  to  the  last  moment.  The  duke  of  Orleans,  on 
becoming  regent,  went  to  see  her  and  took  her  the  patent  ( brevet )  for  a 
pension  of  sixty  thousand  livres,  “  which  her  disinterestedness  had  made 
necessary  for  her,”  said  the  preamble.  It.  was  paid  her  up  to  the  last  day  of 
her  life.  History  makes  no  further  mention  of  her  name;  she  never  left  St. 
Cyr.  Thither  the  czar  Peter  the  Great,  when  he  visited  Paris  and  France, 
went  to  see  her ;  she  was  confined  to  her  bed ;  he  sat  a  little  while  beside  her. 
“  What  is  your  malady?”  he  asked  her  through  his  interpreter.  “  A  great 
age,”  answered  Madame  de  Maintenon,  smiling.  He  looked  at  her  a  moment 
in  silence ;  then,  closing  the  curtains,  he  went  out  abruptly.  The  memory  he 
would  have  called  up  had  vanished.  The  woman  on  whom  the  great  king 
had,  for  thirty  years,  heaped  confidence  and  affection  was  old,  forgotten, 
dying;  she  expired  at  St.  Cyr  on  the  15th  of  April,  1719,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three. 

She  had  left  the  king  to  die  alone.  He  was  in  the  agonies;  the  prayers 
in  extremity  were  being  repeated  around  him  ;  the  ceremonial  recalled  him  to 
consciousness.  He  joined  his  voice  with  the  voices  of  those  present,  repeat¬ 
ing  the  prayers  with  them.  Already  the  court  was  hurrying  to  the  duke  of 
Orleans;  some  of  the  more  confident  had  repaired  to  the  duke  of  Maine’s; 
the  king’s  servants  were  left  almost  alone  around  his  bed  ;  the  tones  of  the 
dying  man  were  distinctly  heard  above  the  great  number  of  priests.  He 
several  times  repeated  :  Nunc  et  in  hora  mortis.  Then  he  said  quite  loud  : 
“O  my  God,  come  Thou  to  help  me,  haste  Thou  to  succor  me.”  Those  were 
his  last  words.  He  expired  on  Sunday,  the  1st  of  September,  1715,  at  8. 
A.M.  Next  day  he  would  have  been  seventy-seven  years  of  age,  and  he  had 
reigned  seventy-two  of  them. 

13 


194 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


ruis 


In  spite  of  his  faults  and  his  numerous  and  culpable  errors,  Louis  XIV. 
had  lived  and  died  like  a  king.  The  slow  and  grievous  agony  of  olden  France 


was  about  to  begin. 


xm. 


\  *«- 


e°o- 


■<p:r 


Louis  n,  the  Regency,  Cardinal  Dubois  and 

Cardinal  de  Fleuey. 

(1715-1748.) 

NDER  Henry  IV.,  under  Richelieu,  under  Louis  XIV., 
events  found  quite  naturally  their  guiding  hand  and 
their  center;  men  as  well  as  circumstances  formed  a 
group  around  the  head  of  the  nation,  whether  king  or 
minister,  to  thence  unfold  themselves  quite  clearly  be¬ 
fore  the  eyes  of  posterity.  Starting  from  the  reign  of 
Louis  XV.  the  nation  has  no  longer  a  head,  history  no 
longer  a  center;  at  the  same  time  with  a  master  of  the  higher 
order,  great  servants  also  fail  the  French  monarchy;  it  all  at  once 
collapses,  betraying  thus  the  exhaustion  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  latter 
years  ;  decadence  is  no  longer  veiled  by  the  remnants  of  the  splen¬ 
dor  which  was  still  reflected  from  the  great  king  and  his  great 
reign  ;  the  glory  of  olden  France  descends  slowly  to  its  grave.  At 
m  same  time,  and  in  a  future  as  yet  obscured,  intellectual  progress 
begins  to  dawn  ;  new  ideas  of  justice,  of  humanity,  of  generous 
equity  toward  the  masses  germinate  sparsely  in  certain  minds ;  it  is 
no  longer  Christianity  alone  that  inspires  them,  though  the  honor 
is  reflected  upon  it  in  a  general  way  and  as  regards  the  principles  with  which 
it  has  silently  permeated  modern  society,  but  they  who  contribute  to  spread 
them  refuse  with  indignation  to  acknowledge  the  source  whence  they  have 
drawn  them.  Intellectual  movement  no  longer  appertains  exclusively  to  the 
higher  classes,  to  the  ecclesiastics,  or  to  the  members  of  the  parliaments; 
vaguely  as  yet,  and  retarded  by  apathy  in  the  government  as  well  as  by  disor¬ 
der  in  affairs,  it  propagates  and  extends  itself,  imperceptibly  pending  that 
signal  and  terrible  explosion  of  good  and  evil  which  is  to  characterize  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Decadence  and  progress  are  going  on  con¬ 
fusedly  in  the  minds  as  well  as  in  the  material  condition  of  the  nation.  They 
must  be  distinguished  and  traced  without  any  pretense  of  separating  them. 

There  we  have  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  in  its  entirety. 

Louis  XIV.  had  made  no  mistake  about  the  respect  which  his  last  wishes 
were  to  meet  with  after  his  death.  His  will  was  as  good  as  annulled  ;  it  was 
opened,  it  was  read,  and  so  were  the  two  codicils.  All  the  authority  was 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


T95 


1748J 

entrusted  to  a  council  of  regency  of  which  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  to  be  the 
head,  but  without  preponderating  voice  and  without  power  to  supersede  any 
of  the  members,  all  designated  in  advance  by  Louis  XIV.  The  person  and 
the  education  of  the  young  king,  as  well  as  the  command  of  the  household 
troops,  were  entrusted  to  the  duke  of  Maine.  The  parliament  applauded  the 
formation  of  the  six  councils  of  foreign  affairs,  of  finance,  of  war,  of  the  marine, 
of  home  or  the  interior,  of  conscience  or  ecclesiastical  affairs ;  the  regent  was 
entrusted  with  the  free  disposal  of  graces. 

The  victory  was  complete.  Not  a  shred  remained  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  will. 
The  duke  of  Maine,  confounded  and  humiliated,  retired  to  his  castle  of  Sceaux, 
there  to  endure  the  reproaches  of  his  wife.  The  king’s  affection  and  Madame 
de  Maintenon’s  clever  tactics  had  not  sufficed  to  found  his  power  ;  the  remain¬ 
ing  vestiges  of  his  greatness  were  themselves  about  to  vanish  before  long  in 
their  turn. 

On  the  1 2th  of  September,  the  little  king  held  a  bed  of  justice;  his  gov¬ 
erness,  Madame  de  Ventadour,  sat  alone  at  the  feet  of  the  poor  orphan,  aban¬ 
doned  on  the  pinnacle  of  power.  All  the  decisions  of  September  2d  were 
ratified  in  the  child’s  name.  Louis  XIV.  had  just  descended  to  the  tomb 
without  pomp  and  without  regret. 

The  new  councils  had  already  been  constituted,  when  it  was  discovered 
that  commerce  had  been  forgotten ;  and  to  it  was  assigned  a  seventh 
body.  How  singular  are  the  monstrosities  of  inexperience !  At  the  head 
of  the  council  of  finance  a  place  was  found  for  the  duke  of  Noailles, 
active  in  mind  and  restless  in  character,  without  any  fixed  principles, 
an  adroit  and  a  shameless  courtier,  strict  in  all  religious  observances 
under  Louis  XIV.  and  a  notorious  debauchee  under  the  regency,  but 
intelligent,  insolent,  ambitious,  hungering  and  thirsting  to  do  good  if  he 
could,  but  evil  if  need  were  and  in  order  to  arrive  at  his  ends.  His 
uncle,  Cardinal  Noailles,  who  had  been  but  lately  threatened  by  the  court 
of  Rome  with  the  loss  of  his  hat,  and  who  had  seen  himself  forbidden 
to  approach  the  dying  king,  was  now  president  of  the  council  of  conscience. 
Marshal  d’Huxelles,  one  of  the  negotiators  who  had  managed  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht,  was  at  the  head  of  foreign  affairs.  The  regent  had  reserved 
to  himself  one  simple  department,  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 

The  regent’s  predilection,  consolidating  the  work  of  Colbert,  contributed 
to  the  development  of  scientific  researches,  for  which  the  neatness  and 
clearness  of  French  thought  rendered  it  thenceforth  so  singularly  well 
adapted. 

The  gates  of  the  prison  were  meanwhile  being  thrown  open  to  many 
a  poor  creature;  the  Jansenists  left  the  Bastile  ;  others,  who  had  been 
for  a  long  time  past  in  confinement,  were  still  ignorant  of  the  grounds 
for  their  captivity,  which  was  by  this  time  forgotten  by  everybody. 
For  awhile  the  Protestants  thought  they  saw  their  advantage  in  the 
clemency  with  which  the  new  reign  appeared  to  be  inaugurated,  and 
began  to  meet  again  in  their  assemblies;  the  regent  had  some  idea  of 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1715 


doing  them  justice,  re-establishing  the  edict  of  Nantes  and  re-opening  to 
the  exiles  the  doors  of  their  country,  but  his  councillors  dissuaded  him, 
the  more  virtuous,  like  St.  Sknon,  from  catholic  piety,  the  more  depraved 
from  policy  and  indifference.  However,  the  lot  of  the  Protestants  remained 
under  the  regency  less  hard  than  it  had  been  under  Louis  XIV.  and 
than  it  became  under  the  duke  of  Bourbon.  The  chancellor,  Voysin, 
had  just  died.  To  this  post  the  regent  summoned  the  attorney-general, 
D’Aguesseau,  beloved  and  esteemed  of  all,  learned,  eloquent,  virtuous, 
but  too  exclusively  a  man  of  parliament  for  the  functions  which  had 
been  confided  to  him. 

The  new  system  of  government,  as  yet  untried  and  confided  to  men 
for  the  most  part  little  accustomed  to  affairs,  had  to  put  up  with  the 
most  formidable  difficulties  and  to  struggle  against  the  most  painful 
position.  The  treasury  was  empty  and  the  country  exhausted ;  the  army 
was  not  paid  and  the  most  honorable  men,  such  as  the  duke  of  St. 
Simon,  saw  no  other  remedy  for  the  evils  of  the  State  but  a  total 
bankruptcy  and  the  convocation  of  the  States-general.  Both  expedients 
were  equally  repugnant  to  the  duke  of  Orleans.  The  duke  of  Noailles 
had  entered  upon  a  course  of  severe  economy;  the  king’s  household  was 
diminished,  twenty-five  thousand  men  were  struck  off  the  strength  of  the 
army,  exemption  from  talliage  for  six  years  was  promised  to  all  such 
discharged  soldiers  as  should  restore  a  deserted  house  and  should  put 
into  cultivation  the  fields  lying  waste.  In  order  to  re-establish  the  finances, 
the  duke  of  Noailles  demanded  fifteen  years’  impracticable  economy,  as 
chimerical  as  the  increment  of  the  revenues  on  which  he  calculated  ;  and 
the  duke  of  Orleans  finally  suffered  himself  to  be  led  away  by  the 
brilliant  prospect  which  was  flashed  before  his  eyes  by  the  Scotsman 
Law,  who  had  now  for  more  than  two  years  been  settled  in  France. 

Law,  born  in  Edinburgh  in  1671,  son  of  a  goldsmith,  had  for  a 
long  time  been  scouring  Europe,  seeking  in  a  clever  and  systematic 
course  of  gambling  a  source  of  fortune  for  himself  and  the  first  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  great  enterprises  he  was  revolving  in  his  singularly  inventive 
and  daring  mind.  Passionately  devoted  to  the  financial  theories  he  had 
conceived,  Law  had  expounded  them  to  all  the  princes  of  Europe  in 
succession.  The  regent  had  not  the  same  repugnance  as  Louis  XIV. 
for  novelties  of  foreign  origin  ;  so  soon  as  he  was  in  power,  he  authorized 
the  Scot  to  found  a  circulating  and  discount  bank,  which  at  once  had 
very  great  success  and  did  real  service.  Encouraged  by  this  first  step, 
Law  reiterated  to  the  regent  that  the  credit  of  bankers  and  merchants 
decupled  their  capital ;  if  the  State  became  the  universal  banker  and 
centralized  all  the  values  in  circulation,  the  public  fortune  would  naturally 
be  decupled.  The  system  was  not  as  yet  applied ;  the  discreet  routine 
of  the  French  financiers  was  scared  at  such  risky  chances,  the  pride  of 
the  great  lords  sitting  in  the  council  was  shocked  at  the  idea  of  seeing 
the  State  turning  banker,  perhaps  even  trader.  Law  went  on,  howeve** ; 


1729] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


19  7 


to  his  bank  he  had  just  added  a  great  company.  The  king  ceded  to 
him  Louisiana,  which  was  said  to  be  rich  in  gold  and  silver  mines 
superior  to  those  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  People  vaunted  the  fertility  of 
the  soil,  the  facility  offered  for  trade  by  the  extensive  and  rapid  stream 
of  the  Mississippi  ;  it  was  by  the  name  of  that  river  that  the  new 
company  was  called  at  first,  though  it  soon  took  the  title  of  Compagnie 
d' Occident,  when  it  had  obtained  the  privilege  of  trading  in  Senegal  and 
in  Guinea.  For  the  generality,  and  in  the  current  phraseology,  it  remained 
the  Mississippi ;  and  that  is  the  name  it  has  left  in  history.  New  Orleans 
was  beginning  to  arise  at  the  mouth  of  that  river.  Law  had  bought 
Belle-Isle-en-Mer,  and  was  constructing  the  port  of  Lorient. 

The  regent’s  councillors  were  scared  and  disquieted  ;  the  chancellor 
proclaimed  himself  loudly  against  the  deception  or  illusion  which  made 
of  Louisiana  a  land  of  promise.  This  opposition,  resulting  from  the  purest 
motives,  caused  his  temporary  disgrace  ;  he  was  ordered  by  the  regent 
to  give  up  the  seals,  which  were  entrusted  to  D’Argenson.  The  die  had 
been  cast  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  outstripped  Law  himself  in  the 
application  of  his  theories.  A  company,  formed  secretly,  and  protected 
by  the  new  keeper  of  the  seals,  had  bought  up  the  general  farmings, 
that  is  to  say,  all  the  indirect  taxes,  for  the  sum  of  forty-eight  million 
fifty-two  thousand  livres ;  the  Compagnie  des  Indes  re-purchased  them  for 
fifty-two  million  ;  the  general  receipts  were  likewise  conceded  to  it,  and 
Law’s  bank  was  proclaimed  a  royal  bank ;  the  company’s  shares  already 
amounted  to  the  supposed  value  of  all  the  coin  circulating  in  the  kingdom, 
estimated  at  seven  or  eight  hundred  millions.  Law  thought  he  might 
risk  everything  in  the  intoxication  which  had  seized  all  France,  capital 
and  province.  He  created  some  fifteen  hundred  millions  of  new  shares, 
promising  his  shareholders  a  dividend  of  twelve  per  cent.  From  all  parts 
silver  and  gold  flowed  into  his  hands ;  everywhere  the  paper  of  the 
bank  was  substituted  for  coin.  The  delirium  mastered  all  minds.  The 
most  modest  fortunes  suddenly  became  colossal,  lackeys  of  yesterday 
were  millionaires  to-morrow ;  extravagance  followed  the  progress  of  this 
outburst  of  riches,  and  the  price  of  provisions  followed  the  progress  of 
extravagance. 

This  extraordinary  financial  delusion  did  not,  could  not  last.  Law 
had  brought  with  him  to  France  a  considerable  fortune  ;  he  had  scarcely 
enough  to  live  upon  when  he  retired  to  Venice,  where  he  died  some 
years  later  (1729),  convinced  to  the  last  of  the  utility  of  his  system,  at 
the  same  time  he  acknowledged  the  errors  he  had  committed  in  its 
application. 

Throughout  the  successive  periods  of  intoxication  and  despair  caused 
by  the  necessary  and  logical  development  of  Law’s  scheme,  the  duke  of 
Orleans  had  delt  other  blows  and  directed  other  affairs  of  importance. 
Easy-going,  indolent,  often  absorbed  by  his  pleasures,  the  regent  found 
no  great  difficulty  in  putting  up  with  the  exaltation  of  the  legitimatized 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


198 


[1716 


princes  ;  it  had  been  for  him  sufficient  to  wrest  authority  from  the  duke 
of  Maine :  he  let  him  enjoy  the  privileges  of  a  prince  of  the  blood. 
But  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  heir  of  the  house  of  Conde,  fierce  in  temper, 
violent  in  his  hate,  greedy  of  honors  as  well  as  of  money,  had  just 
arrived  at  man’s  estate,  and  was  wroth  at  sight  of  the  bastards’  greatness. 
He  drew  after  him  the  count  of  Charolais  his  brother,  and  the  prince 
of  Conti  his  cousin:  on  the  22d  of  April,  1716,  all  three  presented  to 
the  king  a  request  for  the  revocation  of  Louis  XIV.’s  edict  declaring 
his  legitimatized  sons  princes  of  the  blood  and  capable  of  succeeding 
to  the  throne. 

The  regent  saw  the  necessity  of  firmness.  The  rights  thereto  were 
maintained  in  the  case  of  the  duke  of  Maine  and  the  count  of  Toulouse, 
for  their  lives,  by  the  bounty  of  the  regent. 

In  the  excess  of  her  indignation  and  wrath  the  duchess  of  Maine 
determined  not  to  confine  herself  to  reproaches.  She  had  passed  her  life  in 
elegant  entertainments,  in  sprightly  and  frivolous  intellectual  amusements  ; 
ever  bent  on  diverting  herself,  she  made  up  her  mind  to  taste  the  pleasure  of 
vengeance,  and  set  on  foot  a  conspiracy,  as  frivolous  as  her  diversions.  The 
object,  however,  was  nothing  less  than  to  overthrow  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and 
to  confer  the  regency  on  the  king  of  Spain,  Philip  V.,  with  a  council  and  a 
lieutenant,  who  was  to  be  the  duke  of  Maine. 

Some  scatter-brains  of  great  houses  were  mixed  up  in  the  affair:  MM.  de 
Richelieu,  De  Laval,  and  De  Pompadour;  there  was  secret  coming  and  going 
between  the  castle  of  Sceaux  and  the  house  of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  the 
prince  of  Cellamare ;  M.  de  Malezieux,  the  secretary  and  friend  of  the 
duchess,  drew  up  a  form  of  appeal  from  the  French  nobility  to  Philip  V.,  but 
nobody  had  signed  it  or  thought  of  doing  so.  They  got  pamphlets  written  by 
Abbe  Brigault,  whom  the  duchess  had  sent  to  Spain  ;  the  mystery  was 
profound  and  all  the  conspirators  were  convinced  of  the  importance  of  their 
maneuvers  ;  every  day,  however,  the  regent  was  informed  of  them  by  his 
most  influential  negotiator  with  foreign  countries,  Abbe  Dubois,  his  late  tutor, 
and  the  most  depraved  of  all  those  who  were  about  him.  Able  and  vigilant 
as  he  was,  he  was  not  ignorant  of  any  single  detail  of  the  plot,  and  was  only 
giving  the  conspirators  time  to  compromise  themselves.  At  last,  just  as  a 
young  abbe,  Porto  Carrero,  was  starting  for  Spain,  carrying  important  papers, 
he  was  arrested  at  Poitiers  and  his  papers  were  seized.  Next  day,  December 
7th,  1718,  the  prince  of  Cellamare’s  house  was  visited  and  the  streets  were 
lined  with  troops. 

At  6  A.M.  the  king’s  men  entered  the  duke  of  Maine’s  house.  The 
regent  had  for  a  long  time  delayed  to  act,  as  if  he  wanted  to  leave  everybody 
time  to  get  away  ;  but  the  conspirators  were  too  careless  to  take  the  trouble. 
The  duchess  was  removed  to  Dijon,  within  the  government  and  into  the  very 
house  of  the  duke  of  Bourbon  her  nephew,  which  was  a  very  bitter  pill  for 
her.  1  he  duke  of  Maine,  who  protested  his  innocence  and  his  ignorance,  was 
detained  in  the  castle  of  Dourlans  in  Picardy.  Cellamare  received  his 


1717] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


l99 


passports  and  quitted  France.  The  less  illustrious  conspirators  were  all  put 
in  the  Bastile  ;  the  majority  did  not  remain  there  long,  and  purchased  their 
liberty  by  confessions,  which  the  duchess  of  Maine  ended  by  confirming. 

The  only  serious  result  of  Cellamare’s  conspiracy  was  to  render  imminent 
a  rupture  with  Spain.  From  the  first  days  of  the  regency  the  old  enmity  of 
Philip  V.  toward  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the  secret  pretensions  of  both  of 
them  to  the  crown  of  France,  in  case  of  little  Louis  XV. ’s  death,  rendered 
the  relations  between  the  two  courts  thorny  and  strained  at  bottom,  though 
still  perfectly  smooth  in  appearance.  It  was  from  England  that  Abbe  Dubois 
urged  the  regent  to  seek  support.  “  Avarice,  debauchery,  ambition  were  his 
gods;  perfidy,  flattery,  slavishness  his  instruments;  and  complete  unbelief  his 
comfort.  He  excelled  in  low  intrigues;  the  boldest  lie  was  second  nature  to 
him,  with  an  air  of  simplicity,  straightforwardness,  sincerity,  and  often 
bashfulness.  ”  In  spite  of  all  these  vices,  and  the  depraving  influence  he  had 
exercised  over  the  duke  of  Orleans  from  his  earliest  youth,  Dubois  was  able, 
often  far-sighted,  and  sometimes  bold ;  he  had  a  correct  and  tolerably 
practical  mind. 

Inspired  by  Dubois,  weary  of  the  weakness  and  dastardly  incapacity  of 
the  pretender,  the  regent  consented  to  make  overtures  to  the  king  of 
England.  The  Spanish  nation  was  favorable  to  France,  but  the  king  was 
hostile  to  the  regent;  the  English  loved  neither  France  nor  the  regent,  but 
their  king  had  an  interest  in  severing  France  from  the  pretender  forever. 
Dubois  availed  himself  ably  of  his  former  relations  with  Lord  Stanhope, 
heretofore  commander  of  the  English  troops  in  Spain,  for  commencing  a 
secret  negotiation  which  soon  extended  to  Holland,  still  closely  knit  to 
England.  The  order  of  succession  to  the  crowns  of  France  and  England, 
conformably  to  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  was  guaranteed  in  the  scheme  of 
treaty  ;  that  was  the  only  important  advantage  to  the  regent,  who  considered 
himself  to  be  thus  nailing  the  renunciation  of  Philip  V.;  in  other  respects  all 
the  concessions  came  from  the  side  of  France  ;  her  territory  was  forbidden 
ground  to  the  Jacobites,  and  the  pretender,  who  had  taken  refuge  at  Avignon 
on  papal  soil,  was  to  be  called  upon  to  cross  the  Alps.  Dubois  yielded  on  all 
the  points,  defending  to  the  last  with  fruitless  tenacity  the  title  of  king  of 
France,  which  the  English  still  disputed.  The  negotiations  came  to  an  end 
at  length  on  the  6th  of  January,  1 717,  and  Dubois  wrote  in  triumph  to  the 
regent:  “  I  signed  at  midnight;  so  there  are  you  quit  of  servitude  (your  own 

master),  and  here  am  I  quit  of  fear/’ 

At  the  moment  when  the  signature  was  being  put  to  the  treaty  of  the 
triple  alliance,  the  sovereign  of  most  distinction  in  Europe,  owing  to  the 
eccentric  renown  belonging  to  his  personal  merit,  the  czar  Peter  the  Great, 
had  just  made  flattering  advances  to  France.  He  had  some  time  before 
wished  to  take  a  trip  to  Paris,  but  Louis  XIV.  was  old,  melancholy  and 
vanquished,  and  had  declined  the  czar’s  visit.  The  regent  could  not  do  the 
same  thing,  when,  being  at  the  Hague  in  1717,  Peter  I.  repeated  the  expres¬ 
sion  of  his  desire.  Marshal  Coss6  was  sent  to  meet  him,  and  the  honors  due 


200 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1717 

to  the  king  himself  were  everywhere  paid  to  him  on  the  road.  He  testified 
toward  the  regent  a  familiar  good  grace  mingled  with  a  certain  superiority. 
At  his  first  interview  with  the  little  king,  he  took  up  the  child  in  his  arms  and 
kissed  him  over  and  over  again,  “  with  an  air  of  tenderness  and  politeness  which 
was  full  of  nature  and  nevertheless  intermixed  with  a  something  of  grandeur, 
equality  of  rank  and,  slightly,  superiority  of  age;  for  all  that  was  distinctly  per- 
ceptible.”  One  of  his  first  visits  was  to  the  church  of  the  Sorbonne ;  when  he 
caught  sight  of  Richelieu’s  monument,  he  ran  up  to  it,  embraced  the  statue, 
and,  uAh  !  great  man,”  said  he,  “if  thou  wert  still  alive,  I  would  give  thee 
one  half  of  my  kingdom  to  teach  me  to  govern  the  other.” 

Amid  all  his  chatting,  studying,  and  information-hunting,  Peter  the  Great 
did  not  forget  the  political  object  of  his  trip.  He  wanted  to  detach  France 
from  Sweden,  her  heretofore  faithful  ally,  still  receiving  a  subsidy  which  the 
czar  would  fain  have  appropriated  to  himself.  Together  with  his  own  alliance 
he  promised  that  of  Poland  and  of  Prussia.  “  F ranee  has  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  emperor,”  he  said  :  as  for  King  George,  whom  he  detested,  “  if  any 
rupture  should  take  place  between  him  and  the  regent,  Russia  would  suffice  to 
fill  toward  France  the  place  of  England  as  well  as  of  Sweden.” 

Thanks  to  the  ability  of  Dubois,  the  regent  felt  himself  infeoffed  to 
England  ;  he  gave  a  cool  reception  to  the  overtures  of  the  czar,  who  proposed 
a  treaty  of  alliance  and  commerce.  Prussia  had  already  concluded  secretly 
with  France;  Poland  was  distracted  by  intestine  struggles ;  matters  were 
confined  to  the  establishment  of  amicable  relations;  France  thenceforth 
maintained  an  ambassador  in  Russia,  and  the  czar  accepted  the  regent’s 
mediation  between  Sweden  and  himself. 

Alberoni  had  restored  the  finances  and  reformed  the  administration  of 
Spain  ;  he  was  preparing  an  army  and  a  fleet,  meditating,  he  said,  to  bring 
peace  to  the  world,  and  beginning  that  great  enterprise  by  maneuvers  which 
tended  to  nothing  less  than  setting  fire  to  the  four  corners  of  Europe,  in  the 
name  of  an  enfeebled  and  heavy-going  king,  and  of  a  queen  ambitious,  adroit, 
and  unpopular.  He  dreamed  of  reviving  the  ascendency  of  Spain  in  Italy, 
of  overthrowing  the  Protestant  king  of  England,  while  restoring  the  Stuarts 
to  the  throne,  and  of  raising  himself  to  the  highest  dignities  in  Church  and 
State.  He  had  already  obtained  from  Pope  Clement  XI.  the  cardinal’s  hat, 
disguising  under  pretext  of  war  against  the  Turks  the  preparations  he  was 
making  against  Italy  ;  he  had  formed  an  alliance  between  Charles  XII.  and 
the  czar,  intending  to  sustain  by  their  united  forces  the  attempts  of  the 
Jacobites  in  England.  His  first  enterprise,  at  sea,  made  him  master  of 
Sardinia  within  a  few  days  ;  the  Spanish  troops  landed  in  Sicily.  The  emperor 
and  Victor  Amadeo  were  in  commotion  ;  the  pope,  overwhelmed  with 
reproaches  by  those  princes,  wept,  after  his  fashion,  saying  that  he  had 
damned  himself  by  raising  Alberoni  to  the  Roman  purple;  Dubois  profited  by 
the  disquietude  excited  in  Europe  by  the  bellicose  attitude  of  the  Spanish 
minister  to  finally  draw  the  emperor  into  the  alliance  between  France  and 
England.  France  and  England  left  Holland  and  Savoy  free  to  accede  to  the 


1 7 1 9] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


201 


treaty;  but,  if  Spain  refused  to  do  so  voluntarily  within  a  specified  time,  the 
allies  engaged  to  force  her  thereto  by  arms. 

The  Hollanders  hesitated.  Certain  advantages  secured  to  their  commerce 
at  last  decided  the  States-general.  Victor  Amadeo  regretfully  acceded  to 
the  treaty  which  robbed  him  of  Sicily  :  he  was  promised  one  of  the  regent’s 
daughters  for  his  son. 

Alberoni  refused  persistently  to  accede  to  the  great  coalition  brought 
about  by  Dubois.  The  hope  of  a  sudden  surprise  in  England,  on  behalf  of 
the  Jacobites,  had  been  destroyed  by  the  death  of  the  king  of  Sweden, 
Charles  XII.,  killed  on  the  I2th  of  December,  1718,  at  Freiderishalt,  in 
Norway;  in  spite  of  the  feverish  activity  of  his  mind  and  the  frequently 
chimerical  extent  of  his  machinations,  Alberoni  remained  isolated  in  Europe, 
without  ally  and  without  support. 

The  treaty  of  the  quadruple  alliance  had  at  last  come  to  be  definitively 
signed.  Some  days  later  appeared,  almost  at  the  same  time — the  17th  of 
December,  1718,  and  the  9th  of  January,  1719 — the  manifestoes  of  England 
and  France,  proclaiming  the  resolution  of  making  war  upon  Spain,  while 
Philip  V.,  by  a  declaration  of  December  25th,  1718,  pronounced  all  renuncia¬ 
tions  illusory,  and  proclaimed  his  right  to  the  throne  of  France  in  case  of  the 
death  of  Louis  XV.  At  the  same  time  he  made  an  appeal  to  an  assembly  of 
the  States-general  against  the  tyranny  of  the  regent,  “  who  was  making 
alliances,”  he  said,  “  with  the  enemies  of  the  two  crowns.” 

Preparations  for  war  were  actively  carried  on  in  France;  the  prince  of 
Conti  was  nominally  at  the  head  of  the  army,  Marshal  Berwick  was  entrusted 
with  the  command.  He  accepted  it,  in  spite  of  his  old  connections  with 
Spain,  the  benefits  which  Philip  V.  had  heaped  upon  him,  and  the  presence  of 
his  eldest  son,  the  duke  of  Liria,  in  the  Spanish  ranks.  Everywhere  the 
depots  were  committed  to  the  flames :  this  cruel  and  destructive  war  against 
an  enemy,  whose  best  troops  were  fighting  far  away  and  who  was  unable  to 
offer  more  than  a  feeble  resistance,  gratified  the  passions  and  the  interests  of 
England  rather  than  of  France. 

Alberoni  attempted  in  vain  to  create  a  diversion  by  hurling  into  the 
midst  of  France  the  brand  of  civil  war.  Philip  V.  was  beaten  at  home  as 
well  as  in  Sicily.  The  regent  succeeded  in  introducing  to  the  presence  of 
the  king  of  Spain  an  unknown  agent,  who  managed  to  persuade  the  monarch 
that  the  cardinal  was  shirking  his  responsibility  before  Europe,  asserting  that 
the  king  and  queen  had  desired  the  war  and  that  he  had  confined  himself  to 
gratifying  their  passions.  The  duke  of  Orleans  said,  at  the  same  time,  quite 
openly,  that  he  made  war  not  against  Philip  V.  or  against  Spain,  but  against 
Alberoni  only.  Lord  Stanhope  declared,  in  the  name  of  England,  that  no 
peace  was  possible,  unless  its  preliminary  were  the  dismissal  of  the  pernicious 
minister. 

The  cardinal’s  fall  was  almost  as  speedy  as  that  which  he  had  but  lately 
contrived  for  his  enemy  the  Princess  des  Ursins.  On  the  4th  of  December, 
1719,  he  received  orders  to  quit  Madrid  within  eight  days  and  Spain  undef 


Z02 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1719 


three  weeks.  So  great  success  in  negotiation,  however  servile  had  been  his 
bearing,  he  little  by  little  increased  the  influence  of  Dubois  over  his  master. 
The  regent  knew  and  despised  him,  but  he  submitted  to  his  sway  and  yielded 
to  his  desires,  sometimes  to  his  fancies.  Dubois  had  for  a  long  while 
comprehended  that  the  higher  dignities  of  the  Church  could  alone  bring  him 
to  the  grandeur  of  which  he  was  ambitious  ;  he  obtained  the  see  of  Cambrai, 
strange  to  say,  through  the  influence  of  a  Protestant  king,  George  I.  The 
regent,  as  well  as  the  whole  court,  was  present  at  the  ceremony,  to  the  great 
scandal  of  the  people  attached  to  religion.  Dubois  received  all  the  orders  on 
the  same  day ;  and,  when  he  was  joked  about  it,  he  brazen-facedly  called  to 
mind  the  precedent  of  St.  Ambrose. 

On  the  2 1st  of  July,  1719,  the  duchess  of  Berry,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
regent,  had  died  at  the  Palais-Royal,  at  barely  twenty-four  years  of  age  ;  her 
health,  her  beauty,  and  her  wit  were  not  proof  against  the  irregular  life  she 
had  led.  Ere  long  a  more  terrible  cry  arose  from  one  of  the  chief  cities  of 
the  kingdom:  “  The  plague,”  they  said,  “is  at  Marseilles,  brought,  none 
knows  how,  on  board  a  ship  from  the  East.”  The  bishop  of  Marseilles, 
Monseigneur  de  Belzunce,  the  sheriffs  Esteile  and  Moustier,  and  a  simple 
officer  of  health,  Chevalier  Roze,  sufficed  in  the  depopulated  town  for  all 
duties  and  all  acts  of  devotion.  The  example  of  the  prelate  animated  with 
courageous  emulation — not  the  clergy  of  lazy  and  emasculated  dignitaries,  for 
they  fled  at  the  first  approach  of  danger,  but — the  parish-priests,  the  vicars, 
and  the  religious  orders  ;  not  one  deserted  his  colors,  not  one  put  any  bound 
to  his  fatigues  save  with  his  life. 

Marseilles  had  lost  a  third  of  its  inhabitants  ;  Aix,  Toulon,  Arles,  the 
Cevennes,  the  Gevaudan  were  attacked  by  the  contagion;  fearful  was  the 
want  in  the  decimated  towns,  long  deprived  of  every  resource.  Scarcely, 
however,  had  they  escaped  from  the  dreadful  scourge  which  had  laid  them 
waste,  when  they  plunged  into  excesses  of  pleasure  and  debauchery,  as  if  to 
fly  from  the  memories  that  haunted  them. 

Dubois,  meanwhile,  was  nearing  the  goal  of  all  his  efforts.  In  order  to 
obtain  the  cardinal’s  hat,  he  had  embraced  the  cause  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
and  was  pushing  forward  the  registration  by  parliament  of  the  bull  Unigenitus. 
The  long  opposition  of  the  duke  of  Noailles  at  last  yielded  to  the  desire  of 
restoring  peace  in  the  Church.  In  his  wake  the  majority  of  the  bishops  and 
communities  who  had  made  appeal  to  the  contemplated  council  renounced,  in 
their  turn,  the  protests  so  often  renewed  within  the  last  few  years.  The 
parliament  was  divided,  but  exiled  to  Pontoise,  as  a  punishment  for  its 
opposition  to  the  system  of  Law ;  it  found  itself  threatened  with  removal  to 
Blois.  D’Aguesseau  gave  in  his  resignation  to  the  regent,  the  parliament  did 
not  leave  for  Blois  ;  after  sitting  some  weeks  at  Pontoise,  it  enregistered  the 
formal  declaration  of  the  bull,  and  at  last  returned  to  Paris  on  the  20th  of 
December,  1720. 

On  the  1 6th  of  July;  1721,  Dubois  was  at  last  elected  cardinal  :  it  was 
stated  that  his  elevation  had  cost  eight  millions  of  livres ;  he  became  premier 


1723] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


2°\ 


minister  in  name,  after  having  long  been  so  in  fact.  His  reign  was  not  long 
at  this  unparalleled  pinnacle  of  his  greatness  ;  he  had  been  summoned  to 
preside  at  the  assembly  of  the  clergy,  and  had  just  been  elected  to  the  French 
Academy,  where  he  was  received  by  Fontenelle,  when  a  sore  from  which  he 
had  long  suffered  reached  all  at  once  a  serious  crisis ;  an  operation  was 
indispensable,  but  he  set  himself  obstinately  against  it  ;  the  duke  of  Orleans 
obliged  him  to  submit  to  it,  and  it  was  his  death-blow  ;  the  wretched  cardinal 
expired,  without  having  had  time  to  receive  the  sacraments. 

On  the  2d  of  December,  1723,  three  months  and  a  half  after  the  death  of 
Dubois,  the  duke  of  Orleans  succumbed  in  his  turn.  Struck  down  by  a  sudden 
attack  of  apoplexy,  while  he  was  chatting  with  his  favorite  for  the  time,  the 
duchess  of  Falarie,  he  expired  without  having  recovered  consciousness. 
Lethargized  by  the  excesses  of  the  table  and  debauchery  of  all  kinds,  more 
and  more  incapable  of  application  and  work,  the  prince  did  not  preserve  suffi¬ 
cient  energy  to  give  up  the  sort  of  life  which  had  ruined  him.  All  the  vices 
thus  imputed  to  the  regent  did  not  perish  with  him,  when  he  succumbed  at 
forty-nine  years  of  age  under  their  fatal  effects.  “The  evil  that  men  do  lives 
after  them  ;  the  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones  ;”  the  regency  was  the 
signal  for  an  irregularity  of  morals  which  went  on  increasing  like  a  filthy  river, 
up  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  From  the  court  the  evil  soon  spread 
to  the  nation  ;  religious  faith  still  struggled  within  the  soul,  but  it  had  for  a 
long  while  been  tossed  about  between  contrary  and  violent  opinions,  it  found 
itself  disturbed,  attacked,  by  the  new  and  daring  ideas  which  were  beginning 
to  dawn  in  politics  as  well  as  in  philosophy.  The  break-up  was  already  be¬ 
coming  manifest,  though  nobody  could  account  for  it,  though  no  fixed  plan 
was  conceived  in  men’s  minds.  People  devoured  the  memoirs  of  Cardinal 
Retz  and  Madame  de  Motteville,  which  had  just  appeared;  people  formed 
from  them  their  judgments  upon  the  great  persons  and  great  events  which 
they  had  seen  and  depicted.  The  University  of  Paris,  under  the  direction  of 
Rollin,  was  developing  the  intelligence  and  lively  powers  of  burgessdom  ;  and 
Montesquieu,  as  yet  full  young,  was  shooting  his  missiles  in  the  Lettrcs per- 
sanes  at  the  men  and  the  things  of  his  country  with  an  almost  cynical  freedom, 
which  was  as  it  were  the  alarum  and  prelude  of  all  the  liberties  which  he 
scarcely  dared  to  claim,  but  of  which  he  already  let  a  glimpse  be  seen.  Evil 
and  good  were  growing  up  in  confusion,  like  the  tares  and  the  wheat.  For 
more  than  eighty  years  past  France  had  been  gathering  the  harvest  of  ages; 
she  has  not  yet  separated  the  good  grain  from  the  rubbish  which  too  often 
conceals  it. 

The  bishop  of  Frejus,  who  had  but  lately  been  the  modest  preceptor  of 
the  king  and  was  quietly  ambitious  and  greedy  of  power,  but  without  regard 
to  his  personal  interests,  was  about  to  become  Cardinal  Fleury  and  to  govern 
France  for  twenty  years;  in  1723,  he  was  seventy  years  old.  Whether  from 
adroitness  or  prudence,  Fleury  did  not  all  at  once  aspire  to  all-powerfulness. 
He  kept  the  list  of  benefices,  and  he  alone,  it  was  said,  knew  how  to  unloosen 
the  king’s  tongue ;  but  he  had  not  calculated  upon  the  pernicious  and  all-pow- 


204 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1724 


erful  influence  of  the  marchioness  of  Prie,  favorite  “by  appointment  ” 

( attitrte )  to  the  duke.  Clever,  adroit,  depraved,  she  aspired  to  govern,  and 
chose  for  her  minister  Paris-Duverney,  one  of  the  four  Dauphinese  brothers 
who  had  been  engaged  under  the  regency  in  the  business  of  the  visa,  and  the 
enemies  as  well  as  rivals  of  the  Scotsman  Law. 

This  new  statesman,  imbued  with  the  maxims  of  order  and  regularity  for¬ 
merly  impressed  by  Colbert  upon  the  clerks  of  the  Treasury,  and  not  yet 
completely  effaced  by  a  long  interregnum,  he  labored  zealously  to  cut  down 
expenses  and  useless  posts,  to  resuscitate  and  regulate  commerce.  The  com¬ 
motion  among  the  people  was  great ;  the  workmen  rioted,  the  tradesmen 
refused  to  accept  the  legal  figure  for  their  goods ;  several  men  were  killed  in 
the  streets,  and  some  shops  put  the  shutters  up.  The  misery,  which  the 
administration  had  meant  to  relieve,  went  on  increasing;  begging  was  prohib¬ 
ited;  refuges  and  workshops  were  annexed  to  the  poor-houses;  attempts  were 
made  to  collect  there  all  the  old,  infirm  and  vagabond.  All  this  rigor  was 
ineffectual;  the  useful  object  of  Paris-Duverney’s  decrees  was  not  attained. 

Other  outrages,  not  to  be  justified  by  any  public  advantage,  were  being 
at  the  same  time  committed  against  other  poor  creatures,  for  a  long  while 
accustomed  to  severities  of  all  kinds.  Without  freedom,  without  right  of 
worship,  without  assemblies,  the  Protestants  had,  nevertheless,  enjoyed  a  sort 
of  truce  from  their  woes  during  the  easy-going  regency  of  the  duke  of  Orleans. 
Among  the  number  of  his  vices  Dubois  did  not  include  hypocrisy:  he  had  not 
persecuted  the  remnants  of  French  Protestantism,  enfeebled,  dumb,  but  still 
living  and  breathing.  Paris-Duverney  and  Madame  de  Prie  returned  to  the 
policy  of  Louis  XIV.;  they  published  in  1724  an  edict  which  equaled  in  rigor 
the  most  severe  proclamations  of  the  previous  reign ;  it  placed  the  peace  and 
often  the  life  of  reformers  at  the  mercy  not  only  of  an  enemy’s  denunciation, 
but  of  a  priest’s  simple  deposition  ;  it  destroyed  all  the  bonds  of  family  arid 
substituted  for  the  natural  duties  a  barbarous  and  depraving  law,  but  general 
sentiment  and  public  opinion  were  no  longer  in  accord  with  the  royal  procla¬ 
mations.  Throughout  a  persecution  which  lasted  nearly  forty  years,  with 
alternations  of  severity  and  clemency,  the  chiefs  of  French  Protestantism, 
Paul  Rabaut,  Court,  and  others  equally  distinguished,  managed  to  control  the 
often  recurring  desperation  of  their  flocks.  The  execution  of  the  unhappy 
Calas,  accused  of  having  killed  his  son,  and  the  generous  indignation  of  Vol¬ 
taire  cast  a  momentary  gleam  of  light  within  the  somber  region  of  prisons  and 
gibbets.  For  the  first  time  public  opinion,  at  white  heat,  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  decision  of  the  persecutors.  Calas  was  dead,  but  the  decree  of  the 
parliament  of  Toulouse,  which  had  sentenced  him,  was  quashed  by  act  of  the 
council; his  memory  was  cleared,  and  the  day  of  toleration  for  French  Protest¬ 
ants  began  to  glimmer,  pending  the  full  dawn  of  justice  and  liberty. 

The  young  king  was  growing  up,  still  a  stranger  to  affairs,  solely  occupied 
with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  handsome,  elegant,  with  noble  and  regular 
features,  a  cold  and  listless  expression.  In  the  month  of  February,  1725,  he 
fell  ill ;  for  two  days  there  was  great  danger.  The  duke  thought  himself  to 


1733] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


205 


be  threatened  with  the  elevation  of  the  house  of  Orleans  to  the  throne.  “  I’ll 
not  be  caught  so  again,”  he  muttered  between  his  teeth,  when’  he  came  one 
night  to  inquire  how  the  king  was:  “if  he  recovers,  I’ll  have  him  married.” 
The  choice  fell  upon  Mary  Leckzinski,  a  good,  gentle,  simple  creature,  with¬ 
out  wit  or  beauty,  twenty-two  years  old  and  living  upon  the  alms  of  France 
with  her  parents,  exiles  and  refugees  at  an  old  commandery  of  the  Templars 
at  Weissenburg.  Before  this  king  Stanislaus  had  conceived  the  idea  of  marry¬ 
ing  his  daughter  to  Count  d’Estrees;  the  marriage  had  failed  through  the 
regent’s  refusal  to  make  the  young  lord  a  duke  and  peer. 

Fleury  had  made  no  objection  to  the  marriage.  Louis  XV.  accepted  it, 
just  as  he  had  allowed  the  breaking-off  of  his  union  with  the  infanta  and  that 
of  France  vith  Spain.  For  awhile  the  duke  had  hopes  of  reaping  all  the 
fruit  of  the  unequal  marriage  he  had  just  concluded  for  the  king  of  France; 
but  the  hour  of  his  downfall  had  arrived ;  he  was  ordered  to  quit  the  court 
and  retire  provisionally  to  Chantilly.  Madame  de  Prie  was  exiled  to  her  es¬ 
tates  in  Normandy,  where  she  soon  died  of  spite  and  anger.  The  head  of  the 
house  of  Conde  came  forth  no  more  from  the  political  obscurity  which  befitted 
his  talents.  At  length  Fleury  remained  sole  master. 

He  took  possession  of  it  without  fuss  or  any  external  manifestation ;  car¬ 
ing  only  for  real  authority,  he  advised  Louis  XV.  not  to  create  any  premier 
minister  and  to  govern  by*  himself,  like  his  great-grandfather.  The  king  took 
this  advice,  as  every  other,  and  left  Fleury  to  govern.  This  was  just  what  the 
bishop  intended ;  a  sleepy  calm  succeeded  the  commotions  which  had  been 
caused  by  the  inconsistent  and  spasmodic  government  of  the  duke  ;  galas  and 
silly  expenses  gave  place  to  a  wise  economy,  the  real  and  important  blessing 
of  Fleury’s  administration.  Commerce  and  industry  recovered  confidence ; 
business  was  developed  ;  the  increase  of  the  revenues  justified  a  diminution  of 
taxation  ;  war,  which  was  imminent  at  the  moment  of  the  duke’s  fall,  seemed 
to  be  escaped;  the  bishop  of  Frejus  became  Cardinal  Fleury;  the  court  of 
Rome  paid  on  the  nail  for  the  services  rendered  it  by  the  new  minister  in 
freeing  the  clergy  from  the  tax  of  the  fiftieth  ( impot  du  cinquantieme).  The 
clergy  responded  to  this  pleasant  exposition  of  principles  by  a  gratuitous  gift 
of  five  millions.  Strife  ceased  in  every  quarter;  France  found  herself  at  rest, 
without  luster  as  well  as  without  prospect. 

The  efforts  made  in  common  by  Fleury  and  Robert  Walpole,  prime 
minister  of  the  king  of  England,  were  for  a  long  while  successful  in  maintain¬ 
ing  the  general  peace;  the  unforeseen  death  of  Augustus  of  Saxony,  king  of 
Poland,  suddenly  came  to  trouble  it.  It  was,  thenceforth,  the  unhappy  fate 
of  Poland  to  be  a  constant  source  of  commotion  and  discord  in  Europe.  The 
elector  of  Saxony,  son  of  Augustus  II.,  was  supported  by  Austria  and  Russia ; 
the  national  party  in  Poland  invited  Stanislaus  Leckzinski ;  he  was  elected  at 
the  diet  by  sixty  thousand  men  of  family,  and  set  out  to  take  possession  of 
the  throne,  reckoning  upon  the  promises  of  his  son-in-law,  and  on  the 
military  spirit  which  was  reviving  in  France.  The  young  men  burned  to  win 
their  spurs;  the  old  generals  of  Louis  XIV.  were  tired  of  idleness. 


20  6 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1733 


Russia  and  Austria  made  an  imposing  display  of  force  in  favor  of  the 
elector  of  Saxony  ;  France  sent,  tardily,  a  body  of  fifteen  hundred  men  ;  this 
ridiculous  re-enforcement  had  not  yet  arrived  when  Stanislaus,  obliged  to  with¬ 
draw  from  Warsaw,  had  already  shut  himself  up  in  Dantzic.  The  Austrian 
general  had  invested  the  place. 

News  of  the  bombardment  of  Dantzic  greeted  the  little  French  corps  as 
they  approached  the  fort  of  Wechselmunde.  Their  commander  saw  his 
impotence  ;  instead  of  landing  his  troops,  he  made  sail  for  Copenhagen.  The 
French  ambassador  at  that  court,  Count  Plelo,  was  indignant  to  see  his 
countrymen’s  retreat,  and,  hastily  collecting  a  hundred  volunteers,  he 
summoned  to  him  the  chiefs  of  the  expeditionary  corps.  The  officer  in 
command  of  the  detachment,  M.  de  la  Peyrouse  Lamotte,  yields  to  his 
entreaties.  They  set  out  both  of  them,  persuaded  at  the  same  time  of  the 
uselessness  of  their  enterprise  and  of  the  necessity  they  were  under,  for  the 
honor  of  France,  to  attempt  it.  Scarcely  had  the  gallant  little  band  touched 
land  beneath  the  fort  of  Wechselmunde,  when  they  marched  up  to  the 
Russian  lines,  opening  a  way  through  the  pikes  and  muskets  in  hopes  of 
joining  the  besieged,  who  at  the  same  time  effected  a  sally.  Already  the 
enemy  began  to  recoil  at  sight  of  such  audacity,  when  M.  de  Plelo  fell 
mortally  wounded  ;  the  enemy’s  battalions  had  hemmed  in  the  French.  La 
Peyrouse  succeeded,  however,  in  effecting  his  retreat,  and  brought  away  his 
little  band  into  the  camp  they  had  established  under  shelter  of  the  fort.  For 
a  month  the  French  kept  up  a  rivalry  in  courage  with  the  defenders  of 
Dantzic  ;  when  at  last  they  capitulated,  on  the  23d  of  June,  General  Munich 
had  conceived  such  esteem  for  their  courage  that  he  granted  them  leave  to 
embark  with  arms  and  baggage.  A  few  days  later  King  Stanislaus  escaped 
alone  from  Dantzic,  which  was  at  length  obliged  to  surrender  on  the  7th  of 
July,  and  sought  refuge  in  the  dominions  of  the  king  of  Prussia.  The  pope 
released  the  Polish  gentry  from  the  oath  they  had  made  never  to  entrust  the 
crown  to  a  foreigner.  Augustus  III.,  recognized  by  the  mass  of  the  nation, 
became  the  docile  tool  of  Russia,  while  in  Germany  and  in  Italy  the  Austrians 
found  themselves  attacked  simultaneously  by  France,  Spain,  and  Sardinia. 

Marshal  Berwick  had  taken  the  fort  of  Kehl  in  the  month  of  December, 
1733;  he  had  forced  the  lines  of  the  Austrians  at  Erlingen  at  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  the  campaign  of  1734,  and  he  had  just  opened  trenches  against 
Philipsburg,  when  he  pushed  forward  imprudently  in  a  reconnoissance 
between  the  fires  of  the  besiegers  and  besieged  :  a  ball  wounded  him  mortally, 
and  he  expired  immediately,  like  Marshal  Turenne  ;  he  was  sixty-three.  The 
duke  of  Noailles,  who  at  once  received  the  marshal’s  baton,  succeeded  him  in 
the  command  of  the  army  by  agreement  with  Marshal  d’Asfeldt.  Philips¬ 
burg  was  taken  after  forty-eight  days’  open  trenches,  without  Prince  Eugene, 
all  the  while  within  hail,  making  any  attempt  to  relieve  the  town.  The 
campaign  of  1735  hung  fire  in  Germany.  It  was  more  splendid  in  Italy, 
where  the  outset  of  the  war  had  been  brilliant.  And,  indeed,  within  three 
months,  nearly  the  whole  of  Milaness  was  reduced.  Cremona  and  Pizzighi- 


1735] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


207 


tone  had  surrendered  ;  but  already  king  Charles  Emmanuel  was  relaxing  his 
efforts  with  the  prudent  selfishness  customary  to  his  house.  The  Sardinian 
contingents  did  not  arrive  :  the  Austrians  had  seized  a  passage  over  the  Po  ; 
Villars,  however,  was  preparing  to  force  it,  when  a  large  body  of  the  enemy 
came  down  upon  him.  The  king  of  Sardinia  was  urged  to  retire  :  “  That  is 

not  the  way  to  get  out  of  this,”  cried  the  marshal,  and,  sword  in  hand,  he 
charged  at  the  head  of  the  body-guard  ;  Charles  Emmanuel  followed  his 
example  ;  the  Austrians  were  driven  in. 

Death,  in  fact,  had  already  seized  his  prey  ;  the  aged  marshal  had  not 
time  to  return  to  France  to  yield  up  his  last  breath  there  ;  he  was  expiring  at 
Turin,  when  he  heard  of  Marshal  Berwick’s  death  before  Philipsburg : 
“  That  fellow  always  was  lucky,”  said  he.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1734,  Villars 
died,  in  his  turn,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  in  the  very  room  in  which  he  had 
been  born,  when  his  father  was  French  ambassador  at  the  court  of  the  duke 
of  Savoy. 

Some  days  later  Marshals  Broglie  and  Coigny  defeated  the  Austrians 
before  Parma  ;  the  general-in-chief,  M.  de  Mercy,  had  been  killed  on  the  19th 
of  September  ;  the  prince  of  Wurtemberg  in  his  turn  succumbed  at  the  battle 
of  Guastalla,  and  yet  these  successes  on  the  part  of  the  French  produced  no 
serious  result.  Cardinal  Fleury,  weary  of  the  war  which  he  had  entered  upon 
with  regret,  disquieted  too  at  the  new  complications  which  he  foresaw  in 
Europe,  had  already  commenced  negotiations  ;  the  preliminaries  were  signed 
at  Vienna  in  the  month  of  October,  1735. 

The  conditions  of  the  treaty  astonished  Europe.  The  kingdom  of 
Naples  and  the  two  Sicilies  were  secured  to  Don  Carlos,  who  renounced 
Tuscany  and  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Piacenza.  These  three  principalities 
were  to  form  the  appanage  of  Duke  Francis  of  Lorraine,  betrothed  to  the 
archduchess  Maria  Theresa.  There  it  was  that  France  was  to  find  her  share 
of  the  spoil  ;  in  exchange  for  the  dominions  formed  for  him  in  Italy,  Duke 
Francis  ceded  the  duchies  of  Lorraine  and  Bar  to  King  Stanislaus  ;  the  latter 
formally  renounced  the  throne  of  Poland,  at  the  same  time  preserving  the 
title  of  king  and  resuming  possession  of  his  property  ;  after  him,  Lorraine  and 
the  Barrois  were  to  be  united  to  the  crown  of  France,  as  dower  and  heritage 
of  that  queen  who  had  been  but  lately  raised  to  the  throne  by  a  base  intrigue, 
and  who  thus  secured  to  her  new  country  a  province  so  often  taken  and 
retaken,  an  object  of  so  many  treaties  and  negotiations,  and  thenceforth  so 
tenderly  cherished  by  France. 

Peace  reigned  in  Europe,  and  Cardinal  IHeury  governed  France  without 
rival  and  without  opposition.  He  had  but  lately,  like  Richelieu — to  whom, 
however,  he  did  not  care  to  be  compared — triumphed  over  parliamentary 
revolt.  Jealous  of  their  ancient  traditional  rights,  the  parliament  claimed  to 
share  with  the  government  the  care  of  watching  over  the  conduct  of  the 
clergy.  In  vain  had  D’Aguesseau,  reappointed  to  the  chancellorship, 
exhorted  the  parliament  to  yield  :  he  had  fallen  in  public  esteem.  A  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  members  received  letters  under  the  kings  seal  ( lettres  de 


208 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1740 


cachet ),  exiling  them  to  the  four  quarters  of  France.  The  grand  chamber 
had  been  spared  ;  the  old  councillors,  alone  remaining,  enregistered  purely 
and  simply  the  declarations  of  the  keeper  of  the  seals.  Once  more  the 
parliament  was  subdued  ;  it  had  testified  its  complete  political  impotence ;  the 
iron  hand  of  Richelieu,  the  perfect  address  of  Mazarin,  were  no  longer  neces¬ 
sary  to  silence  it;  the  prudent  moderation,  the  reserved  frigidity  of  Cardinal 
Fleury  had  sufficed  for  the  purpose. 

It  was  amid  this  state  of  things  that  the  death  of  the  emperor  Charles 
VI.,  on  the  20th  of  October,  1740,  occurred  to  throw  Europe  into  a  new  fer¬ 
ment  of  discord  and  war.  Maria  Theresa,  the  emperor’s  eldest  daughter, 
was  twenty-three  years  old,  beautiful,  virtuous,  and  of  a  lofty  and  resolute 
character;  her  rights  to  the  paternal  heritage  had  been  guaranceed  by  all 
Europe.  Europe,  however,  soon  rose,  almost  in  its  entirety,  to  oppose  them. 

Kept  for  a  long  while  by  his  father  in  cruel  captivity,  always  carefully 
held  aloof  from  affairs,  and,  to  pass  the  time,  obliged  to  engage  in  literature 
and  science,  Frederick  II.  had  ascended  the  throne  in  August,  1740,  with  the 
reputation  of  a  mind  cultivated,  liberal  and  accessible  to  noble  ideas.  Vol¬ 
taire,  with  whom  he  had  become  connected,  had  trumpeted  his  praises  every¬ 
where :  the  first  act  of  the  new  king  revealed  qualities  of  which  Voltaire  had 
no  conception.  On  the  23d  of  December,  after  leaving  a  masked  ball,  he 
started  post-haste  for  the  frontier  of  Silesia,  where  he  had  collected  thirty 
thousand  men.  Without  preliminary  notice,  without  declaration  of  war,  he 
at  once  entered  the  Austrian  territory,  which  was  scantily  defended  by  three 
thousand  men  and  a  few  garrisons.  Before  the  end  of  January,  1741,  the 
Prussians  were  masters  of  Silesia. 

Meanwhile  France,  as  well  as  the  majority  of  the  other  nations,  had  recog¬ 
nized  the  young  queen  of  Hungary.  She  had  been  proclaimed  at  Vienna  on 
the  7th  of  November,  1740;  all  her  father’s  States  had  sworn  alliance  and 
homage  to  her.  Cardinal  Fleury’s  intentions  remained  as  yet  vague  and 
secret.  Naturally  and  stubbornly  pacific,  he  felt  himself  bound  by  the  confir¬ 
mation  of  the  Pragmatic-Sanction,  lately  renewed,  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of 
Vienna.  He  dreamed  of  revising  the  map  of  Europe,  and  of  forming  a  zone 
of  small  States  destined  to  protect  France  against  the  designs  of  Austria. 
Louis  XV.  pretended  to  nothing,  demanded  nothing  for  the  price  of  his  assist¬ 
ance ;  but  France  had  been  united  from  time  immemorial  to  Bavaria;  she  was 
bound  to  raise  the  elector  to  the  imperial  throne.  The  French  navy  was 
ruined,  the  king  had  hardly  twenty  vessels  to  send  to  sea;  that  mattered  little, 
as  England  and  Holland  took  no  part  in  the  contest ;  Austria  was  not  a  mari¬ 
time  power;- Spain  joined  with  France  to  support  the  elector.  A  body  of 
forty  thousand  men  was  put  under  the  orders  of  that  prince,  who  received  the 
title  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  armies  of  the  king  of  France.  Louis  XV. 
acted  only  in  the  capacity  of  Bavaria’s  ally  and  auxiliary.  Meanwhile  Marshal 
Belle-Isle,  the  king’s  ambassador  and  plenipotentiary  in  Germany,  had  just 
signed  a  treaty  with  Frederick  II.,  guaranteeing  to  that  monarch  Lower  Sile¬ 
sia.  At  the  same  time,  a  second  French  army  under  the  orders  of  Marshal 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


209 


1742] 

Maillebois  entered* Germany ;  Saxony  and  Poland  came  into  the  coalition. 
The  king  of  England,  George  II.,  faithful  to  the  Pragmatic-Sanction,  hurrying 
over  to  Hanover  to  raise  troops  there,  found  himself  threatened  by  Maillebois, 
and  signed  a  treaty  of  neutrality.  The  elector  had  been  proclaimed,  at  Lintz, 
archduke  of  Austria:  nowhere  did  the  Franco-Bavarian  army  encounter  any 
obstacle.  The  king  of  Prussia  was  occupying  Moravia;  Upper  and  Lower 
Austria  had  been  conquered  without  a  blow,  and  by  this  time  the  forces  of 
the  enemy  were  threatening  Vienna.  The  success  of  the  invasion  was  like  a 
dream,  but  the  elector  had  not  the  wit  to  profit  by  the  good  fortune  which 
was  offered  him. 

A  few  weeks  had  sufficed  to  crown  the  success;  less  time  sufficed  to  undo 
it.  On  flying  from  Vienna,  Maria  Theresa  had  sought  refuge  in  Hungary; 
the  assembly  of  the  estates  held  a  meeting  at  Presburg;  there  she  appeared, 
dressed  in  mourning,  holding  in  her  arms  her  son,  scarce  six  months  old. 
Already  she  had  known  how  to  attach  the  magnates  to  her  by  the  confidence 
she  had  shown  them  ;  she  held  out  to  them  her  child  :  “  I  am  abandoned  of 
my  friends,”  said  she  in  Latin,  a  language  still  in  use  in  Hungary  among  the 
upper  classes ;  “  I  am  pursued  by  my  enemies,  attacked  by  my  relatives ;  I 
have  no  hope  but  in  your  fidelity  and  courage ;  we — my  son  and  I — look  to 
you  for  our  safety.” 

The  palatines  scarcely  gave  the  queen  time  to  finish ;  already  the  sabres 
were  out  of  the  sheaths  and  flashing  above  their  heads.  Count  Bathyany  was 
the  first  to  shout:  “ M or iannir  pro  rege  nostro  Maria  Theresa!  ”  The  same 
shout  was  repeated  everywhere  ;  Maria  Theresa,  restraining  her  tears,  thanked 
her  defenders  with  gesture  and  voice  ;  she  was  expecting  a  second  child  before 
long.  “  I  know  not,”  she  wrote  to  her  mother-in-law,  the  duchess  of  Lorraine, 
“if  I  shall  have  a  town  left  to  be  confined  in.”  Hungary  rose,  like  one  man, 
to  protect  her  sovereign  against  the  excess  of  her  misfortunes ;  the  same  spirit 
spread  before  long  through  the  Austrian  provinces ;  bodies  of  irregulars, 
savage  and  cruel,  formed  at  all  points,  attacking  and  massacring  the  French 
detachments  they  encountered,  and  giving  to  the  war  a  character  of  ferocity 
which  displayed  itself  with  special  excess  against  Bavaria.  Count  Segur, 
besieged  in  Lintz,  was  obliged  to  capitulate  on  the  26th  of  January,  and  the 
day  after  the  elector  of  Bavaria  had  received  the  imperial  crown  at  Frankfurt 
under  the  name  of  Charles  VII. — February  12th,  1742 — the  Austrians,  under 
the  orders  of  General  Khevenhuller,  obtained  possession  of  Munich,  which 
was  given  up  to  pillage. 

Meanwhile  England  had  renounced  her  neutrality:  the  general  feeling  of 
the  nation  prevailed  over  the  prudent  and  far-sighted  ability  of  Robert  Wal¬ 
pole  ;  he  succumbed,  after  his  long  ministry,  full  of  honors  and  riches ;  the 
government  had  passed  into  warlike  hands.  The  women  of  society,  headed 
by  the  duchess  of  Marlborough,  raised  a  subscription  of  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  which  they  offered  unsuccessfully  to  the  haughty  Maria  Theresa.  Par¬ 
liament  voted  more  effectual  aid,  and  English  diplomacy  adroitly  detached 
the  king  of  Sardinia  from  the  allies,  whom  success  appeared  to  be  abandoning. 

14 


210 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1743 


The  king  of  Prussia  had  just  gained  at  Czezlaw  an  important  victory;  next 
day,  he  was  negotiating  with  the  queen  of  Hungary.  On  the  nth  of  June 
the  treaty  which  abandoned  Silesia  to  Frederick  II.  was  secretly  concluded. 

Chevert  still  occupied  Prague  with  six  thousand  sick  or  wounded  ;  the 
prince  of  Lorraine  had  invested  the  place,  and  summoned  it  to  surrender  at 
discretion.  “Tell  your  general,”  replied  Chevert  to  the  Austrian  sent  to  par¬ 
ley,  “  that,  if  he  will  not  grant  me  the  honors  of  war,  I  will  fire  the  four  corners 
of  Prague,  and  bury  myself  under  its  ruins.”  He  obtained  what  he  asked  for, 
and  went  to  rejoin  Marshal  Belle-Isle  at  Egra.  People  compared  the  retreat 
from  Prague  to  the  retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand  ;  but  the  truth  came  out  for 

o 

all  the  fictions  of  flattery  and  national  pride.  A  hundred  thousand  French¬ 
men  had  entered  Germany  at  the  outset  of  the  war ;  at  the  commencement  of 
the  year  1743  thirty-five  thousand  soldiers,  mustered  in  Bavaria,  were  nearly 
all  that  remained  to  withstand  the  increasing  efforts  of  the  Austrians. 

Marshal  Belle-Isle  was  coldly  received  at  Paris. 

Almost  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Austrians  were  occupying  Prague 
and  Bohemia,  Cardinal  Fleury  was  expiring  at  Versailles,  at  the  age  of  ninety. 
He  had  lived  too  long:  the  trials  of  the  last  years  of  his  life  had  been  beyond 
the  bodily  and  mental  strength  of  an  old  man  elevated  for  the  first  time  to 
power  at  an  age  when  it  is  generally  seen  slipping  from  the  hands  of  the  most 
energetic. 

Both  court  and  nation  hurled  the  same  reproach  at  Cardinal  Fleury ;  he 
alone  prevented  the  king  from  governing  and  turned  his  attention  from  affairs, 
partly  from  jealousy  and  partly  from  the  old  habit  acquired  as  a  preceptor, 
who  can  never  see  a  man  in  one  who  has  been  his  pupil.  When  the  old  man 
died  at  last ,  as  M.  d’Argenson  cruelly  puts  it,  France  turned  her  eyes  toward 
Louis  XV. 

The  prudent  hesitation  and  backwardness  of  Holland  had  at  last  yielded 
to  the  pressure  of  England.  The  States-general  had  sent  twenty  thousand 
men  to  join  the  army  which  George  II.  had  just  sent  into  Germany.  It  was 
only  on  the  15th  of  March,  1744,  that  Louis  XV.  formally  declared  war 
against  the  king  of  England  and  Maria  Theresa,  no  longer  as  an  auxiliary  of 
the  emperor,  but  in  his  own  name  and  on  behalf  of  France.  Charles  VII.,  a 
fugitive,  driven  from  his  hereditary  dominions,  which  had  been  evacuated  by 
Marshal  Broglie,  had  transported  to  Frankfurt  his  ill  fortune  and  his  empty 
titles.  France  alone  supported  in  Germany  a  quarrel  the  weight  of  which  she 
had  imprudently  taken  upon  herself. 

The  effort  was  too  much  for  the  resources  ;  the  king’s  counselors  felt 
that  it  was;  the  battle  of  Dettingen,  skillfully  commenced  on  the  27th  of 
June,  1743,  by  Marshal  Noailles,  and  lost  by  the  imprudence  of  his  nephew, 
the  duke  of  Gramont,  had  completely  shaken  the  confidence  of  the  armies  ; 
the  emperor  had  treated  with  the  Austrians  for  an  armistice,  establishing  the 
neutrality  of  his  troops,  as  belonging  to  the  emprire.  It  was  necessary,  at 
the  same  time,  to  look  out  elsewhere  for  more  effectual  support.  The  king  of 
Prussia  had  been  resting  for  the  last  two  years,  a  curious  and  an  interested 


FRANCE. — LOUIS  XV. 


21 1 


I745J 

spectator  of  the  contests  which  were  bathing  Europe  in  blood,  and  which 
answered  his  purpose  by  enfeebling  his  rivals.  He  frankly  and  coolly  flaunted 
his  selfishness.  In  turn  the  successes  of  the  queen  of  Hungary  were  beginning 
to  disquiet  him;  on  the  5th  of  June,  1744,  he  signed  a  new  treaty  with 
France;  for  the  first  time  Louis  XV.  was  about  to  quit  Versailles  and  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  an  army.  ‘‘If  my  country  is  to  be  devoured/’  said 
the  king,  with  a  levity  far  different  from  the  solemn  tone  of  Louis  XIV.,  “  it 
will  be  very  hard  on  me  to  see  it  swallowed  without  personally  doing  my  best 
to  prevent  it.” 

Ypres  and  Menin  had  already  surrendered  after  a  few  days’  open 
trenches;  siege  had  just  been  laid  to  Furnes.  Marshal  Noailles  had  proposed 
to  move  up  the  king’s  household  troops  in  order  to  make  an  impression  upon 
the  enemy.  “  If  they  must  needs  be  marched  up,”  replied  Louis  XV.,  “  I  do 
not  wish  to  separate  from  my  household:  verbum  sap." 

The  news  which  arrived  from  the  army  of  Italy  was  equally  encouraging ; 
the  prince  of  Conde,  seconded  by  Chevert,  had  forced  the  passage  of  the 
Alps  :  “  There  will  come  some  occasion  when  we  shall  do  as  well  as  the 
French  have  done,”  wrote  Count  Campo  Santo,  who,  under  Don  Philip, 
commanded  the  Spanish  detachment:  “it  is  impossible  to  do  better.” 

Just  at  that  moment  Louis  XV.  was  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  a  few  days 
later  all  France  was  in  consternation  ;  reports  flew  about  that  his  life  was 
despaired  of.  Confronted  with  death,  the  king  had  once  more  felt  the 
religious  terrors  which  were  constantly  intermingled  with  the  irregularity  of 
his  life :  he  had  sent  for  the  queen,  and  had  dismissed  the  duchess  of 
Chateauroux.  On  recovering  his  health,  he  found  himself  threatened  by  new 
perils,  aggravated  by  his  illness,  and  by  the  troubled  state  into  which  it  had 
thrown  the  public  mind.  After  having  ravaged  and  wasted  Alsace,  without 
Marshals  Coigny  and  Noailles  having  been  able  to  prevent  it,  Prince  Charles 
had,  unopposed,  struck  again  into  the  road  toward  Bohemia,  which  was  being 
threatened  by  the  king  of  Prussia. 

Louis  XV.  went  to  the  siege  of  Friburg,  which  was  a  long  and  a  difficult 
one.  He  returned  to  Paris  on  the  13th  of  November,  to  the  great  joy  of  the 
people.  A  few  days  later,  Marshal  Belle-Isle,  while  passing  through  Hanover 
in  the  character  of  negotiator,  was  arrested  by  order  of  George  II.,  and 
carried  to  England  a  prisoner  of  war,  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  nations  and  the 
protests  of  France.  The  moment  was  not  propitious  for  obtaining  the  release 
of  a  marshal  of  France  and  an  able  general.  The  emperor  Charles  VII., 
who  had  but  lately  returned  to  his  hereditary  dominions,  and  recovered 
possession  of  his  capital  after  fifteen  months  of  Austrian  occupation,  died 
suddenly  on  the  20th  of  January,  1745,  at  forty-seven  years  of  age.  The 
face  of  affairs  changed  all  at  once;  the  honor  of  France  was  no  longer 
concerned  in  the  struggle  ;  the  grand-duke  of  Tuscany  had  no  longer  any 
competitor  for  the  empire ;  the  eldest  son  of  Charles  VII.  was  only  seventeen  ; 
the  queen  of  Hungary  was  disposed  for  peace,  “The  English  ministry, 
which  laid  down  the  law  for  all  because  it  laid  down  the  money,  and  which 


212 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[1744 

had  in  its  pay,  all  at  one  time,  the  queen  of  Hungary,  the  king  of  Poland  and 
the  king  of  Sardinia,  considered  that  there  was  everything  to  lose  by  a  treaty 
with  France  and  everything  to  gain  by  arms.  War  continued,  because  it  had 
commenced.  ’  ’  [V  oltaire.] 

The  king  of  France  henceforth  maintained  it  almost  alone  by  himself. 
The  young  elector  of  Bavaria  had  already  found  himself  driven  out  of 
Munich,  and  forced  by  his  exhausted  subjects  to  demand  peace  of  Maria 
Theresa.  The  election  to  the  empire  was  imminent;  Maximilian- Joseph 
promised  his  votes  to  the  grand-duke  of  Tuscany;  at  that  price  he  was 
re-established  in  his  hereditary  dominions.  The  king  of  Poland  had  rejected 
the  advances  of  France,  who  offered  him  the  title  of  emperor,  beneath  which 
Charles  VII.  had  succumbed.  Marshal  Saxe  bore  all  the  brunt  of  the  war. 
A  foreigner  and  a  Protestant,  for  a  long  while  under  suspicion  with  Louis  XV., 
and  blackened  in  character  by  the  French  generals,  Maurice  of  Saxony  had 
won  authority  as  well  as  glory  by  the  splendor  of  his  bravery  and  of  his 
military  genius.  Order  did  not  as  yet  reign  in  the  army  of  Marshal  Saxe. 
In  1745  the  situation  was  grave  ;  the  marshal  was  attacked  with  dropsy,  his 
life  appeared  to  be  in  danger.  He  nevertheless  commanded  his  preparations 
to  be  made  for  the  campaign,  and  when  Voltaire,  who  was  one  of  his  friends, 
was  astounded  at  it,  “  It  is  no  question  of  living,  but  of  setting  out,”  was  his 
reply. 

The  victory  of  Fontenoy,  like  that  of  Denain,  restored  the  courage  and 
changed  the  situation  of  France.  When  the  king  of  Prussia  heard  of  his 
ally's  success,  he  exclaimed  with  a  grin  :  “  This  is  about  as  useful  to  us  as  a 
battle  gained  on  the  banks  of  the  Scamander.  ”  His  selfish  absorption  in  his 
personal  and  direct  interests  obscured  the  judgment  of  Frederick  the  Great. 
He,  however,  did  justice  to  Marshal  Saxe  :  “There  was  a  discussion  the  other 
day  as  to  what  battle  had  reflected  most  honor  on  the  general  commanding,” 
he  wrote  a  long  while  after  the  battle  of  Fontenoy:  “some  suggested  that  of 
Almanza,  others  that  of  Turin:  but  I  suggested — and  everybody  finally 
agreed — that  it  was  undoubtedly  that  in  which  the  general  had  been  at  death’s 
door  when  it  was  delivered.” 

The  fortress  of  Tournai  surrendered  on  the  22d  of  May;  the  citadel 
capitulated  on  the  19th  of  June.  In  the  month  of  February,  1746,  Marshal 
Saxe  terminated  the  campaign  by  taking  Brussels.  By  the  1st  of  the  previous 
September  Louis  XV.  had  returned  in  triumph  to  Paris. 

Henceforth  he  remained  alone  confronting  Germany,  which  was  neutral 
or  had  rallied  round  the  restored  empire.  On  the  13th  of  September,  the 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany  had  been  proclaimed  emperor  at  Frankfurt  under  the 
name  of  Francis  I.  The  indomitable  resolution  of  the  queen  his  wife  had 
triumphed  ;  in  spite  of  the  checks  she  suffered  in  the  Low  Countries,  Maria 
Theresa  still  withstood,  at  all  points,  the  pacific  advances  of  the  belligerents. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  the  king  of  Prussia  had  gained  a  great  victory  at 
Freilberg.  “  I  have  honored  the  bill  of  exchange  your  Majesty  drew  on  me 
at  Fontenoy,  he  wrote  to  Louis  XV.  A  series  of  successful  fights  had 


Louis  XV.  receives  the  news  from  Marshal  Saxe  of  the  complete  route  of  the  enemy  at  Fontenoy 

A.  de  Neuville.  Page  212. 


1745] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


213 

opened  the  road  to  Saxony;  Frederick  headed  thither  rapidly  ;  on  the  1 8th  of 
December  he  occupied  Dresden. 

While  Berlin  was  in  gala  trim  to  celebrate  the  return  of  her  monarch  in 
triumph,  Europe  had  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the  unparalleled  enterprise  of  a 
young  man,  winning,  courageous  and  frivolous  as  he  was,  attempting  to  recover 
by  himself  alone  the  throne  of  his  fathers.  For  nearly  three  years  past, 
Charles  Edward  Stuart,  son  of  the  Chevalier  de  St.  George,  had  been 
awaiting  in  France  the  fulfillment  of  the  promises  and  hopes  which  had  been 
flashed  before  his  eyes.  Weary  of  hope  deferred,  he  had  conceived  the  idea 
of  a  bold  stroke.  “  Why  not  attempt  to  cross  in  a  vessel  to  the  north  of 
Scotland?”  had  been  the  question  put  to  him  by  Cardinal  Tencin,  who  had 
sometime  before  owed  his  cardinal’s  hat  to  the  dethroned  king  of  Great 
Britain.  “  Your  presence  will  be  enough  to  get  you  a  party  and  an  army,  and 
France  will  be  obliged  to  give  you  aid.” 

Charles  Edward  followed  this  audacious  counsel.  (See  English  history.) 

The  anger  and  severity  displayed  by  the  English  Government  toward 
the  Jacobites  were  aggravated  by  the  checks  encountered  upon  the  Conti¬ 
nent  by  the  coalition.  At  the  very  moment  when  the  duke  of  Cumber¬ 
land  was  defeating  Charles  Edward  at  Culloden,  Antwerp  was  surrendering 
to  Louis  XV.  in  person :  Mons,  Namur  and  Charleroi  were  not  long 

s 

before  they  fell.  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine  was  advancing  to  the  relief 
of  the  besieged  places  ;  Marshal  Saxe  left  open  to  him  the  passage  of 
the  Meuse:  the  French  camp  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  pleasures;  the 
most  famous  actors  from  Paris  were  ordered  to  amuse  the  general  and 
the  soldiers.  On  the  JOth  of  October,  in  the  evening,  Madame  Favart 
came  forward  on  the  stage:  “To-morrow,”  said  she,  “there  will  be  no 
performance,  on  account  of  the  battle :  the  day  after,  we  shall  have  the 
honor  of  giving  you  Lc  Coq  dn  Village .  ”  At  the  same  time,  the  marshal 
sent  the  following  order  to  the  columns,  which  were  already  forming  on 
the  road  from  St.  Tron  to  Liege,  near  the  village  of  Raucoux:  “Whether 
the  attacks  succeed  or  not,  the  troops  will  remain  in  the  position  in 
which  night  finds  them,  in  order  to  recommence  the  assault  upon  the 
enemy.  ” 

The  battle  of  October  Iith  left  the  battle-field  in  the  hands  of  the 
victors,  the  sole  result  of  a  bloody  and  obstinate  engagement.  Marshal 
Saxe  went  to  rest  himself  at  Paris  ;  the  people’s  enthusiasm  rivaled  and 
endorsed  the  favors  shown  to  him  by  the  king. 

So  much  luck  and  so  much  glory  in  the  Low  Countries  covered,  in 
the  eyes  of  France  and  Europe,  the  checks  encountered  by  the  king’s 
armies  in  Italy.  The  campaign  of  1745  had  been  very  brilliant.  Parma, 
Piacenza,  Montferrat,  nearly  all  Milaness,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
fortresses,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  and  French  forces.  The  king 
of  Sardinia  had  recourse  to  negotiation  ;  he  amused  the  marquis  of 
Argenson,  at  that  time  Louis  XV. ’s  foreign  minister,  a  man  of  honest, 
expansive,  but  chimerical  views.  At  the  moment  when  the  king  and 


214 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


[i745 


the  marquis  believed  themselves  to  be  remodeling  the  map  of  Europe 
at  their  pleasure,  they  heard  that  Charles  Emmanuel  had  resumed  the 
offensive.  A  French  corps  had  been  surprised  at  Asti,  on  the  5th  of 
March  ;  thirty  thousand  Austrians  marched  down  from  the  Tyrol,  and 
the  Spaniards  evacuated  Milan.  A  series  of  checks  forced  Marshal  Maille- 
bois  to  effect  a  retreat  ;  the  enemy’s  armies  crossed  the  Var  and  invaded 
French  territory.  Marshal  Belle-Isle  fell  back  to  Puget,  four  leagues 
from  Toulon. 

The  Austrians  had  occupied  Genoa,  the  faithful  ally  of  France:  their 
vengefulness  and  their  severe  exactions  caused  them  to  lose  the  fruits 
of  their  victory.  The  resistance  of  Genoa  was  effectual  ;  but  it  cost  the 
life  of  the  duke  of  Boufflers,  who  was  wounded  in  an  engagement  and 
died  three  days  before  the  retreat  of  the  Austrians,  on  the  6th  of 
July,  1747. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  Common  Sense  Belle-Isle  ( Bon-Sens  de  Belle- 
Isle),  as  the  chevalier  was  called  at  court  to  distinguish  him  from  his 

brother  the  marshal,  attacked  with  a  considerable  body  of  troops  the 
Piedmontese  intrenchments  at  the  Assietta  Pass,  between  the  fortresses 

of  Exilles  and  Fenestrelles  ;  at  the  same  time,  Marshal  Belle-Isle  was 

seeking  a  passage  over  the  Stura  Pass,  and  the  Spanish  army  was  attacking 
Piedmont  by  way  of  the  Apennines.  The  engagement  at  the  heights 
of  Assietta  was  obstinate  ;  Chevalier  Belle-Isle,  wounded  in  both  arms, 

threw  himself  bodily  upon  the  palisades  to  tear  them  down  with  his 
teeth  ;  he  was  killed,  and  the  French  sustained  a  terrible  defeat  ;  five 
thousand  men  were  left  on  the  battle-field.  The  campaign  of  Italy  was 
stopped.  The  king  of  Spain,  Philip  V.,  enfeebled  and  exhausted  almost 
in  infancy,  had  died  on  the  9th  of  July,  1746.  The  fidelity  of  his 
successor,  Ferdinand  VI.,  married  to  a  Portuguese  princess,  appeared 
doubtful  ;  he  had  placed  at  the  head  of  his  forces  in  Italy  the  marquis 
of  Las  Minas,  with  orders  to  preserve  to  Spain  her  only  army.  “  The 
Spanish  soldiers  are  of  no  more  use  to  us  than  if  they  were  so  much 
cardboard,”  said  the  French  troops.  Europe  was  tired  of  the  war.  England 
avenged  herself  for  her  reverses  upon  the  continent  by  her  successes 
at  sea;  the  French  navy,  neglected  systematically  by  Cardinal  Fleury, 
did  not  even  suffice  for  the  protection  of  commerce.  The  Hollanders, 
who  had  for  a  long  while  been  undecided  and  had  at  last  engaged  in 
the  struggle  against  France  without  any  declaration  of  war,  bore,  in 
1747,  the  burden  of  the  hostilities.  Count  Lowendahl,  a  friend  of  Marshal 
Saxe’s,  and,  like  him,  in  the  service  of  France,  had  taken  Sluys  and 
Sas-de-Gand  ;  Bergen-op-Zoom  was  besieged;  on  the  1st  of  July,  Marshal 
Saxe  had  gained,  under  the  king’s  own  eye,  the  battle  of  Lawfeldt. 
As  in  1672,  the  French  invasion  had  been  the  signal  for  a  political  revolu¬ 
tion  in  Holland  ;  the  aristocratical  burgessdom,  which  had  resumed  power, 
succumbed  once  more  beneath  the  efforts  of  the  popular  party,  directed 
by  the  house  of  Nassau  and  supported  by  England. 


i;43] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XV. 


215 


Bergen-op-Zoom  was  taken  and  plundered  on  the  16th  of  September. 
Count  Lowendahl  was  made  a  marshal  of  France.  On  the  9th  of  April, 
1748,  the  place  was  invested,  before  the  thirty-five  thousand  Russians 
promised  to  England  by  the  czarina  Elizabeth  had  found  time  to  make 
their  appearance  on  the  Rhine.  A  congress  was  already  assembled  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  to  treat  for  peace.  The  Hollanders,  whom  the  marquis 
of  Argenson  before  his  disgrace  used  always  to  call  “  the  Ambassadors 
of  E  ngland,”  took  fright  at  the  spectacle  of  Maestricht  besieged ;  from 
parleys  they  proceeded  to  the  most  vehement  urgency ;  and  England 
yielded.  The  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed  on  the  30th  of  April 
it  was  not  long  before  Austria  and  Spain  gave  in  their  adhesion.  On 
the  1 8th  of  October  the  definitive  treaty  was  concluded  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
France  generously  restored  all  her  conquests,  without  claiming  other 
advantages  beyond  the  assurance  of  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Piacenza 
to  the  infante  Don  Philip,  son-in-law  of  Louis  XV.  England  surrendered 
to  France  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  and  the  colony  of  Louisbourg, 
the  only  territory  she  had  preserved  from  her  numerous  expeditions 
against  the  French  colonies  and  from  the  immense  losses  inflicted  upon 
French  commerce.  The  Great  Frederick  kept  Silesia ;  the  king  of  Sardinia 
the  territories  already  ceded  by  Austria.  Only  France  had  made  great 
conquests ;  and  only  she  retained  no  increment  of  territory.  She  recognized 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction  in  favor  of  Austria  and  the  Protestant  succession 
in  favor  of  George  II. 

The  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  had  a  graver  defect  than  that  of 
fruitlessness ;  it  was  not  and  could  not  be  durable.  England  was  excited, 
ambitious  of  that  complete  empire  of  the  sea  which  she  had  begun  to 
build  up  upon  the  ruins  of  the  French  navy  and  the  decay  of  Holland, 
and  greedy  of  distant  conquests  over  colonies  which  the  French  could 
not  manage  to  defend.  In  proportion  as  the  old  influence  of  Richelieu 
and  of  Louis  XIV.  over  European  policy  became  weaker  and  weaker, 
English  influence,  founded  upon  the  growing  power  of  a  free  country 
and  a  free  government,  went  on  increasing  in  strength.  Without  any 
other  ally  but  Spain,  herself  wavering  in  her  fidelity,  the  French  remained 
exposed  to  the  attempts  of  England,  henceforth  delivered  from  the  phantom 
of  the  Stuarts. 


XIV. 


LOOK  XV.-THE  COLONIES.-TI  SEVEN  YEARS'  WAR 

LITERATURE  AID  PHILOSOPHY. 


E  must  now  review  briefly  the  history  of  the  French 
colonies.  At  the  outset  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  personal 
^  reign  and  through  the  persevering  efforts  of  Colbert, 
marching  in  the  footsteps  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  an 
India  Company  had  been  founded  for  the  purpose  of 
developing  French  commerce  in  those  distant  regions, 
which  had  always  been  shrouded  in  a  mysterious  halo 
of  fancied  wealth  and  grandeur.  Several  times  the  company  had 
all  but  perished  ;  it  had  revived  under  the  vigorous  impulse 
communicated  by  Law  and  had  not  succumbed  at  the  collapse  of 
his  system.  It  gave  no  money  to  its  share-holders,  who  derived 
their  benefits  only  from  a  partial  concession  of  the  tobacco  revenues, 
granted  by  the  king  to  the  company,  but  its  directors  lived  a  life  of 
magnificence  in  the  East,  where  they  were  authorized  to  trade  on 
their  own  account.  Abler  and  bolder  than  all  his  colleagues,  Joseph 
Dupleix,  member  of  a  Gascon  family  and  son  of  the  comptroller-general  of 
Hainault,  had  dreamed  of  other  destinies  than  the  management  of  a  counting- 
house ;  he  aspired  to  endow  France  with  the  empire  of  India.  Unfortunately 
a  serious  misunderstanding  took  place  between  him  and  the  governor  of 
Bourbon  and  of  lie  de  France,  Bertrand  Francis  Mahe  de  la  Bourdonnais, 
who,  in  September,  1746,  at  the  head  of  a  flotilla,  had  obliged  the  English 
garrison  of  Madras  to  surrender.  A  jealous  love  of  power  and  absorption  in 
political  schemes  induced  Dupleix  to  violate  a  promise  lightly  given  by  La 
Bourdonnais  in  the  name  of  France  ;  he  arbitrarily  quashed  a  capitulation  of 
which  he  had  not  discussed  the  conditions.  The  report  of  this  unhappy 
conflict,  and  the  color  put  upon  it  by  the  representations  of  Dupleix,  ruined 
at  Paris  the  governor  of  lie  de  France. 

On  arriving  at  He  de  France,  amid  that  colony  which  he  had  found 
exhausted,  ruined,  and  had  endowed  with  hospitals,  arsenals,  quays,  and 
fortifications,  La  Bourdonnais  learned  that  a  new  governor  was  already 


1774] 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


217 


installed  there.  His  dissensions  with  Dupleix  had  borne  their  fruits;  he  had 
been  accused  of  having  exacted  too  paltry  a  ransom  from  Madras,  and  of 
having  accepted  enormous  presents  ;  the  company  had  appointed  a  successor 
in  his  place.  Driven  to  desperation,  anxious  to  go  and  defend  himself,  La 
Bourdonnais  set  out  for  France  with  his  wife  and  his  four  children  ;  a 
prosecution  had  already  been  commenced  against  him.  He  was  captured  at 
sea  by  an  English  ship,  and  taken  a  prisoner  to  England.  The  good  faith  of 
the  conqueror  of  Madras  was  known  in  London  ;  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
English  company  offered  his  fortune  as  security  for  M.  de  la  Bourdonnais. 
Scarcely  had  he  arrived  in  Paris  when  he  was  thrown  into  the  Bastile,  and  for 
two  years  kept  in  solitary  confinement.  When  his  innocence  was  at  last 
acknowledged  and  his  liberty  restored  to  him,  his  health  was  destroyed,  his 
fortune  exhausted  by  the  expenses  of  the  trial.  La  Bourdonnais  died  before 
long,  employing  the  last  remnants  of  his  life  and  of  his  strength  in  pouring 
forth  his  anger  against  Dupleix,  to  whom  he  attributed  all  his  woes. 

France  and  England  had  made  peace;  the  English  and  French  companies 
in  India  had  not  laid  down  arms.  Their  power,  as  well  as  the  importance  of 
their  establishments,  was  as  yet  in  equipoise.  At  Surat  both  companies  had 
places  of  business.  On  the  coast  of  Malabar,  the  English  had  Bombay  and 
the  French  Mahe  ;  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  the  former  held  Madras  and 
Fort  St.  George,  the  latter  Pondicherry  and  Karikal.  The  principal  factories, 
as  well  as  the  numerous  little  establishments  which  were  dependencies  of 
them,  were  defended  by  a  certain  number  of  European  soldiers  and  by  Sepoys , 
native  soldiers  in  the  pay  of  the  companies. 

Dupleix  espied  the  possibility  of  a  new  organization,  which  should  secure 
to  the  French  in  India  the  preponderance,  and  ere  long  the  empire  even,  in 
the  two  peninsulas.  He  purposed  to  found  manufactures,  utilize  native 
hand-labor  and  develop  the  coasting-trade,  or  Ind  to  Ind  trade,  as  the 
expression  then  was ;  but  he  set  his  pretensions  still  higher  and  carried  his 
views  still  further.  He  purposed  to  acquire  for  the  company,  and,  under  its 
name,  for  France,  territories  and  subjects  furnishing  revenues  and  amply 
sufficing  for  the  expenses  of  the  commercial  establishments.  The  moment 
was  propitious  ;  the  ancient  empire  of  the  Great  Mogul  tottering  to  its  base 
was  distracted  by  revolutions ;  Dupleix  reckoned  without  France,  and  without 
the  incompetent  or  timid  men  who  governed  her.  His  successes  scared  King 
Louis  XV.  and  his  feeble  ministers  ;  they  angered  and  discomfited  England, 
which  was  as  yet  tottering  in  India,  and  whose  affairs  there  had  for  a  long  while 
been  ill  managed,  but  which  remained  ever  vigorous,  active,  animated  by  the 
indomitable  ardor  of  a  free  people.  In  India  England  had  at  last  found  a 
man  still  young  and  unknown,  but  worthy  of  being  opposed  to  Dupleix. 
Clive,  who  had  almost  in  boyhood  entered  the  company’s  offices,  turned  out, 
after  the  turbulence  of  his  early  years,  a  heaven-born  general;  he  was  destined 
to  continue  Dupleix’s  work,  when  abandoned  by  France,  and  to  found  to  the 
advantage  of  the  English  that  European  dominion  in  India  which  had  been 
the  governor  of  Pondicherry’s  dream.  Two  French  corps  were  destroyed  by 


218  FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES.  [1748 

Clive,  and  a  third  army  soon  shared  the  same  fate.  The  report  of  Dupleix’s 
reverses  arrived  in  France  in  the  month  of  September,  1752. 

The  dismay  at  Versailles  was  great,  and  prevailed  over  the  astonishment. 
There  had  never  been  any  confidence  in  Dupleix’s  projects,  there  had  been 
scarcely  any  belief  in  his  conquests. 

The  governor  of  Pondicherry  had  received  no  troops,  but  he  had 
managed  to  reorganize  an  army,  and  had  resumed  the  offensive  in  the 
Carnatic,  powerfully  helped  by  his  military  lieutenant,  Bussy  Castelnau,  his 
future  son-in-law,  animated  by  the  same  zeal  for  the  greatness  of  France. 
Clive  was  ill  and  had  just  set  out  for  England  :  fortune  had  once  more 
changed  front.  The  open  conferences  held  with  Saunders,  English  governor 
of  Madras,  failed  in  the  month  of  January,  1754;  Dupleix  wished  to  preserve 
the  advantages  he  had  won,  Saunders  refused  to  listen  to  that  ;  the  approach 
of  a  French  squadron  was  signaled.  The  ships  appeared  to  be  numerous. 
Dupleix  was  already  rejoicing  at  the  arrival  of  unexpected  aid,  when,  instead 
of  an  officer  commanding  the  twelve  hundred  soldiers  from  France,  he  saw 
the  apparition  of  M.  Godeheu,  one  of  the  directors  of  the  company,  and  but 
lately  his  friend  and  correspondent.  “  I  come  to  supersede  you,  sir,”  said 
the  new  arrival  without  any  circumstance  ;  “I  have  full  powers  from  the 
company  to  treat  with  the  English.”  The  cabinet  of  London  had  not  been 
deceived  as  to  the  importance  of  Dupleix  in  India  ;  his  recall  had  been  made 
the  absolute  condition  of  a  cessation  of  hostilities.  All  the  territories  ceded 
by  the  Hindoo  princes  to  Dupleix  reverted  to  their  former  masters  ;  the  two 
companies  interdicted  one  another  from  taking  any  part  in  the  interior  policy 
of  India,  and  at  the  same  time  forbade  their  agents  to  accept  from  the 
Hindoo  princes  any  charge,  honor  or  dignity;  the  most  perfect  equality  was 
re-established  between  the  possessions  and  revenues  of  the  two  great 
European  nations,  rivals  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  Europe  ;  England  gave  up 
some  petty  forts,  some  towns  of  no  importance,  France  ceded  the  empire  of 
India.  When  Godeheu  signed  the  treaty,  Trichinopoli  was  at  last  on  the 
point  of  giving  in.  Dupleix  embarked  for  France  with  his  wife  and  daughter, 
leaving  in  India,  together  with  his  life’s  work  destroyed  in  a  few  days  by  the 
poltroonery  of  his  country’s  government,  the  fortune  he  had  acquired  during 
his  great  enterprises,  entirely  sunk  as  it  was  in  the  service  of  France  ;  the 
revenues  destined  to  cover  his  advances  were  seized  by  Godeheu. 

France  seemed  to  comprehend  what  her  ministers  had  not  even  an  idea 
of ;  Dupleix’s  arrival  in  France  was  a  veritable  triumph.  It  was  by  this  time 
known  that  the  reverses  which  had  caused  so  much  talk  had  been  half 
repaired.  It  was  by  this  time  guessed  how  infinite  were  the  resources  of 
that  empire  of  India,  so  lightly  and  mean-spiritedly  abandoned  to  the 
English. 

He  was  mistaken  about  the  justice  as  he  had  been  about  the  discernment 
and  the  boldness  of  the  French  government ;  not  a  promise  was  accomplished  ; 
not  a  hope  was  realized;  after  delay  upon  delay,  excuse  upon  excuse,  Dupleix 
saw  his  wife  expire  at  the  end  of  two  years,  worn  out  with  suffering  and 


1774] 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


219 


driven  to  despair;  like  her,  his  daughter,  affianced  for  a  long  time  past  to 
Bussy,  succumbed  beneath  the  weight  of  sorrow;  in  vain  did  Duplex  tire  out 
the  ministers  with  his  views  and  his  projects  for  India,  he  saw  even  the  action 
he  was  about  to  bring  against  the  company  vetoed  by  order  of  the  king. 
Persecuted  by  his  creditors,  overwhelmed  with  regret  for  the  relatives  and 
friends  whom  he  had  involved  in  his  enterprises  and  in  his  ruin,  Dupleix  died 
at  last  on  the  nth  of  November,  1763,  the  most  striking,  without  being  the 
last  or  the  most  tragical,  victim  of  the  great  French  enterprises  in  India. 

Despite  the  treaty  of  peace,  hostilities  had  never  really  ceased  in  India. 
Clive  had  returned  from  England ;  freed  henceforth  from  the  influence,  the 
intrigues  and  the  indomitable  energy  of  Dupleix,  he  had  soon  made  himself  mas¬ 
ter  of  the  whole  of  Bengal,  he  had  even  driven  the  French  from  Chandernugger  ; 
Bussy  had  been  unable  to  check  his  successes,  he  avenged  himself  by  wrest¬ 
ing  away  from  the  English  all  their  agencies  on  the  coast  of  Orissa,  and  closing 
against  them  the  road  between  the  Coromandel  coast  and  Bengal. 

Meanwhile  the  Seven  Years'  War  had  broken  out ;  the  whole  of  Europe  had 
joined  in  the  contest ;  the  French  navy,  still  feeble  in  spite  of  the  efforts  that 
had  been  made  to  restore  it,  underwent  serious  reverses  on  every  sea.  Count 
Lally-Tolendal,  descended  from  an  Irish  family  which  took  refuge  in  France 
with  James  II.,  went  to  Count  d’Argenson,  still  minister  of  war,  with  a  propo¬ 
sition  to  go  and  humble  in  India  that  English  power  which  had  been 
imprudently  left  to  grow  up  without  hindrance.  The  directors  of  the  India 
company  went  and  asked  M.  d’Argenson  to  entrust  to  General  Lally  the 
king’s  troops  promised  for  the  expedition.  “  You  are  wrong,”  M.  d’Argenson 
said  to  them  :  “  I  know  M.  de  Lally,  he  is  a  friend  of  mine  ;  but  he  is  violent, 
passionate,  inflexible  as  to  discipline  ;  he  will  not  tolerate  any  disorder  ;  you 
will  be  setting  fire  to  your  warehouses  if  you  send  him  thither.”  The  direct¬ 
ors,  however,  insisted,  and  M.  de  Lally  set  out  on  the  2d  of  May,  1757,  with 
four  ships  and  a  body  of  troops.  Some  young  officers  belonging  to  the  great¬ 
est  houses  of  France  served  on  his  staff. 

The  brilliant  courage  and  heroic  ardor  of  M.  de  Lally  triumphed  over 
the  first  obstacles ;  his  recklessness,  his  severity,  his  passionateness  were  about 
to  lose  him  the  fruits  of  his  victories.  By  his  personal  faults  he  aggravated 
his  already  critical  position.  The  discord  which  reigned  in  the  army  as  well 
as  among  the  civil  functionaries  was  nowhere  more  flagrant  than  between 
Lally  and  Bussy.  The  latter  could  not  console  himself  for  having  been  forced 
to  leave  the  Deccan  in  the  feeble  hands  of  the  marquis  of  Conflans.  An  expe¬ 
dition  attempted  against  the  fortress  of  Wandiwash,  of  which  the  English  had 
obtained  possession,  was  followed  by  a  serious  defeat ;  Colonel  Coote  was 
master  of  Karikal.  Little  by  little  the  French  army  and  French  power  in 
India  found  themselves  cooped  within  the  immediate  territory  of  Pondicherry. 
The  English  marched  against  this  town.  Lally  shut  himself  up  there  in  the 
month  of  March,  1760.  Bussy  had  been  made  prisoner,  and  Coote  had  sent 
him  to  Europe. 

He  held  out  for  six  weeks,  in  spite  of  famine,  want  of  money  and  ever 


220 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


L174S 


increasing  dissensions.  At  last  it  became  necessary  to  surrender;  the  council 
of  the  company  called  upon  the  general  to  capitulate.  Lally  claimed  the  hon¬ 
ors  of  war,  but  Coote  would  have  the  town  at  discretion;  the  distress  was 
extreme  as  well  as  the  irritation.  Pondicherry  was  delivered  up  to  the 
conquerors  on  the  16th  of  January,  1761 ;  the  fortifications  and  magazines 
were  razed  ;  French  power  in  India,  long  supported  by  the  courage  or  ability 
of  a  few  men,  was  foundering,  never  to  rise  again. 

Hatred  bears  bitterer  fruits  than  is  imagined  even  by  those  who  provoke 
it.  The  animosity  which  M.  de  Lally  had  excited  in  India  was  everywhere 
an  obstacle  to  the  defense ;  and  it  was  destined  to  cost  him  his  life  and  im¬ 
peril  his  honor.  Scarcely  had  he  arrived  in  England,  ill,  exhausted  by 
sufferings  and  fatigue,  followed  even  in  his  captivity  by  the  reproaches  and 
anger  of  his  comrades  in  misfortune,  when  he  heard  of  the  outbreak  of  public 
opinion  against  him  in  France;  he  was  accused  of  treason;  and  he  obtained 
from  the  English  cabinet  permission  to  repair  to  Paris.  After  a  delay  of  nine¬ 
teen  months,  the  trial  commenced  in  December,  1764,  and  on  the  9th  of  May, 
at  the  close  of  the  day,  the  valiant  general,  whose  heroic  resistance  had 
astounded  all  India,  mounted  the  scaffold  on  the  Place  de  Greve,  nor  was  per¬ 
mission  granted  to  the  few  friends  who  remained  faithful  to  him  to  accompany 
him  to  the  place  of  execution  ;  there  was  only  the  parish-priest  of  St.  Louis 
en  l’lle  at  his  side  ;  as  apprehensions  were  felt  of  violence  and  insult  on  the 
part  of  the  condemned,  he  was  gagged  like  the  lowest  criminal  when  he  reso¬ 
lutely  mounted  the  fatal  ladder ;  he  knelt  without  assistance  and  calmly 
awaited  his  death-blow.  Voltaire’s  judgment,  after  the  subsidence  of  passion 
and  after  the  light  thrown  by  subsequent  events  upon  the  state  of  French 
affairs  in  India  before  Lally’s  campaigns,  is  just :  “  It  was  a  murder  committed 
with  the  sword  of  justice.”  King  Louis  XV.  and  his  government  had  lost 
India;  the  rage  and  shame  blindly  excited  among  the  nation  by  this  disaster 
had  been  visited  upon  the  head  of  the  unhappy  general  who  had  been  last 
vanquished  in  defending  the  remnants  of  French  power. 

For  a  long  time  past  the  French  had  directed  toward  America  their  ardent 
spirit  of  enterprise ;  in  the  fifteenth  century,  on  the  morrow  of  the  discovery 
of  the  new  world,  when  the  indomitable  genius  and  religious  faith  of  Christo¬ 
pher  Columbus  had  just  opened  a  new  path  to  inquiring  minds  and  daring 
spirits,  the  Basques,  the  Bretons  and  the  Normans  were  among  the  first  to 
follow  the  road  he  had  marked  out ;  their  light  barks  and  their  intrepid 
navigators  were  soon  known  among  the  fisheries  of  Newfoundland  and  the 
Canadian  coast.  (See  American  history.) 

For  a  long  while  expeditions  and  attempts  at  F'rench  colonization  had 
been  directed  toward  Canada.  James  Cartier,  in  1535,  had  taken  possession 
of  its  coasts  under  the  name  of  New  France.  M.  de  Roberval  had  taken 
thither  colonists,  agricultural  and  mechanical ;  but  the  hard  climate,  famine 
and  disease  had  stifled  the  little  colony  in  the  bud ;  religious  and  political  dis¬ 
turbances  in  the  mother-country  were  absorbing  all  thoughts;  it  was  only  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  when  panting  France,  distracted  by  civil  discord, 


1774] 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


221 


began  to  repose  for  the  first  time  since  more  than  a  century,  beneath  a  govern, 
ment  just,  able,  and  firm  at  the  same  time,  that  zeal  for  distant  enterprises  at 
last  attracted  to  New  France  its  real  founder.  Samuel  de  Champlain  du 
Brouage,  born  in  1567,  a  faithful  soldier  of  the  king’s  so  long  as  the  war  lasted, 
was  unable  to  endure  the  indolence  of  peace.  After  long  and  perilous  voyages 
he  enlisted  in  the  company  which  M.  de  Monts,  gentleman  of  the  bedcham¬ 
ber  in  ordinary  to  Henry  IV.,  had  just  formed  for  the  trade  in  furs  on  the 
northern  coast  of  America;  appointed  viceroy  of  Acadia,  a  new  territory,  of 
which  the  imaginary  limits  would  extend  in  our  times  from  Philadelphia  to 
beyond  Montreal,  and  furnished  with  a  commercial  monopoly,  M.  de  Monts 
set  sail  on  the  7th  of  April,  1604,  taking  with  him,  Calvinist  though  he  was.. 
Catholic  priests  as  well  as  Protestant  pastors.  After  long  and  painful  explo¬ 
rations  in  the  forests  and  among  the  Indian  tribes,  after  frequent  voyages  to 
France  on  the  service  of  the  colony,  he  became  at  last,  in  1606,  the  first 
governor  of  the  nascent  town  of  Quebec. 

Never  was  colony  founded  under  more  pious  auspices;  for  some  time 
past  the  Recollects  had  been  zealously  laboring  for  the  conversion  of  unbe¬ 
lievers  ;  seconded  by  the  Jesuits,  who  were  before  long  to  remain  sole  masters 
of  the  soil,  they  found  themselves  sufficiently  powerful  to  forbid  the  Protest¬ 
ant  sailors  certain  favorite  exercises  of  their  worship. 

In  1627,  Richelieu  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  a  hundred 
associates,  on  which  the  king  conferred  the  possession  as  well  as  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  New  France,  together  with  the  commercial  monopoly  and  freedom 
from  all  taxes  for  fifteen  years.  The  colonists  were  to  be  French  and  Cath¬ 
olics  ;  Huguenots  were  excluded  :  they  alone  had  till  then  manifested  any 
tendency  toward  emigration ;  the  attempts  at  colonization  in  America  were 
due  to  their  efforts.  Less  liberal  in  New  France  than  he  had  lately  been  in 
Europe,  the  cardinal  thus  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  foreigner  all  the  adven¬ 
turous  spirits  and  the  bold  explorers  among  the  French  Protestants,  at  the 
very  moment  when  the  English  Puritans,  driven  from  their  country  by  the 
narrow  and  meddlesome  policy  of  James  I.,  were  dropping  anchor  at  the  foot 
of  Plymouth  Rock,  and  were  founding,  in  the  name  of  religious  liberty,  a  new 
Protestant  England,  the  rival  ere  long  of  that  New  France  which  was  Cath¬ 
olic  and  Absolutist. 

Champlain  had  died  at  Quebec  on  Christmas  Day,  1635,  after  twenty- 
seven  years’  efforts  and  sufferings  in  the  service  of  the  nascent  colony.  Bold 
and  enterprising,  endowed  with  indomitable  perseverance  and  rare  practical 
faculties,  an  explorer  of  distant  forests,  an  intrepid  negotiator  with  the  savage 
tribes,  a  wise  and  patient  administrator,  indulgent  toward  all  in  spite  of  his 
ardent  devotion,  Samuel  de  Champlain  had  presented  the  rare  intermixture  of 
the  heroic  qualities  of  past  times  with  the  zeal  for  science  and  the  practical 
talents  of  modern  ages.  He  was  replaced  in  his  government  by  a  knight  of 
Malta,  M.  de  Montmagny.  Quebec  had  a  seminary,  a  hospital  and  a  convent, 
before  it  possessed  a  population. 

The  foundation  of  Montreal  was  still  more  exclusively  religious.  The 


222 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


[7748 


accounts  of  the  Jesuits  had  inflamed  pious  souls  with  a  noble  emulation;  a 
Montreal  association  was  formed,  under  the  direction  of  M.  Olier,  founder  of 
St.  Sulpice.  The  first  expedition  was  placed  under  the  command  of  a  valiant 
gentleman,  Paul  de  Maisonneuve,  and  of  a  certain  Mademoiselle  Mance. 

The  affair  of  Montreal  stood,  like  that  of  Quebec;  New  France  was 
founded  in  spite  of  the  sufferings  of  the  early  colonists,  thanks  to  their  cour¬ 
age,  their  fervent  enthusiasm,  and  the  support  afforded  them  by  the  religious 
zeal  of  their  friends  in  Europe.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  every  day  extended 
their  explorations,  sharing  with  M.  de  la  Salle  the  glory  of  the  great  discov¬ 
eries  of  the  West.  (See  American  history.)  Everywhere,  in  the  western 
regions  of  the  American  continent,  the  footsteps  of  the  French,  either  trav¬ 
elers  or  missionaries,  preceded  the  boldest  adventurers.  It  is  the  glory  and 
the  misfortune  of  France  to  always  lead  the  van  in  the  march  of  civilization, 
without  having  the  wit  to  profit  by  the  discoveries  and  the  sagacious  boldness 
of  her  children.  On  the  unknown  roads  which  she  has  opened  to  the  human 
mind  and  to  human  enterprise  she  has  often  left  the  fruits  to  be  gathered  by 
nations  less  inventive  and  less  able  than  she,  but  more  persevering  and  less 
perturbed  by  a  confusion  of  desires  and  an  incessant  renewal  of  hopes. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht  had  taken  out  of  French  hands  the  gates  of 
Canada,  Acadia  and  Newfoundland.  Canada  was  prospering,  however; 
during  the  long  wars  which  the  condition  of  Europe  had  kept  up  in  America, 
the  Canadians  had  supplied  the  king’s  armies  with  their  best  soldiers. 
Returning  to  their  homes  and  resuming  without  an  effort  the  peaceful  habits 
which  characterized  them,  they  skillfully  cultivated  their  fields  and  saw  their 
population  increasing  naturally,  without  any  help  from  the  mother-country. 
The  governors  had  succeeded  in  adroitly  counterbalancing  the  influence  of 
the  English  over  the  Indian  tribes.  The  Iroquois,  but  lately  implacable  foes 
of  France,  had  accepted  a  position  of  neutrality.  The  English  were  rich,  free 
and  bold ;  for  them  the  transmission  and  the  exchange  of  commodities  were 
easy.  The  commercial  rivalry  which  set  in  between  the  two  nations  was  fatal 
to  the  French;  when  the  hour  of  the  final  struggle  came,  the  Canadians, 
though  brave,  resolute,  passionately  attached  to  France  and  ready  for  any 
sacrifice,  were  few  in  number  compared  with  their  enemies.  Scattered  over  a 
vast  territory,  they  possessed  but  poor  pecuniary  resources,  and  could  expect 
from  the  mother-country  only  irregular  assistance,  subject  to  variations  of 
government  and  fortune  as  well  as  to  the  chances  of  maritime  warfare  and 
engagements  at  sea,  always  perilous  for  the  French  ships,  which  were  inferior 
in  build  and  in  number,  whatever  might  be  the  courage  and  skill  of  their 
commanders.- 

The  capture  of  Louisbourg  and  of  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  by  the 
English  colonists,  in  1745,  profoundly  disquieted  the  Canadians ;  it  was  the 
first  scene  in  a  drama  doomed  to  end  fatally  for  the  interests  of  France. 

Regretfully,  and  as  if  compelled  by  a  remnant  of  national  honor,  Louis 
XV.  adopted  the  resolution  of  defending  his  colonies ;  he  had,  and  the  nation 
had  as  well,  the  feeling  that  the  French  were  hopelessly  weak  at  sea. 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


223 


1774] 

The  English  nation  was  not  divided.  The  ministers  and  the  parliament, 
as  well  as  the  American  colonies,  were  for  war.  “  There  is  no  hope  of  repose 
for  our  thirteen  colonies,  as  long  as  the  French  are  masters  of  Canada,”  said 
Benjamin  Franklin  on  his  arrival  in  London  in  1754.  He  was  already  labor¬ 
ing,  without  knowing  it,  at  that  great  work  of  American  independence  which 
was  to  be  his  glory  and  that  of  his  generation ;  the  common  efforts  and  the 
common  interest  of  the  thirteen  American  colonies  in  the  war  against  France 
were  the  first  step  toward  that  great  coalition  which  founded  the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  union  with  the  mother  country  was  as  yet  close  and  potent.  At  the 
instigation  of  Mr.  Fox,  soon  afterward  Lord  Holland,  and  at  the  time  Prime 
Minister  of  England,  parliament  voted  twenty-five  millions  for  the  American 
war.  The  bounty  given  to  the  soldiers  and  marines  who  enlisted  was  doubled 
by  private  subscription  ;  fifteen  thousand  men  were  thus  raised  to  invade  the 
French  colonies. 

Canada  and  Louisiana  together  did  not  number  eighty  thousand  inhabit¬ 
ants,  while  the  population  of  the  English  colonies  already  amounted  to  one 
million  two  hundred  thousand  souls  ;  to  the  twenty-eight  hundred  regular 
troops  sent  from  France  the  Canada  militia  added  about  four  thousand  men, 
less  experienced  but  quite  as  determined  as  the  most  intrepid  veterans  of  the 
campaigns  in  Europe.  During  more  than  twenty  years  the  courage  and  devo¬ 
tion  of  the  Canadians  never  faltered  for  a  single  day. 

The  wicked  deportation  of  four  hundred  and  eighteen  heads  of  families 
from  Acadia  excited  in  France  the  greatest  and  most  natural  emotion  ;  a  few 
brilliant  successes  obtained  by  the  marquis  of  Montcalm  cheered  up  for  a 
short  space  the  hopes  of  the  French  government;  but  it  was  all  in  vain. 
Quebec,  besieged  by  general  Wolfe,  capitulated  on  the  18th  of  September, 
1759.  Both  the  English  and  the  French  commanders  had  been  killed ;  the 
capitulation  of  Montreal  was  signed  on  the  8th  of  September,  1760;  on  the 
10th  of  February,  1763,  the  peace  concluded  between  France,  Spain,  and 
England  completed  without  hope  of  recovery  the  loss  of  all  the  French 
possessions  in  America.  Louisiana  had  taken  no  part  in  the  war;  it  was  not 
conquered;  France  ceded  it  to  Spain  in  exchange  for  Florida,  which  was 
abandoned  to  the  English.  Canada  and  all  the  islands  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
shared  the  same  fate.  Only  the  little  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon  were 
perserved  for  the  French  fisheries.  One  single  stipulation  guaranteed  to  the 
Canadians  the  free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion.  The  principal  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  colony  went  into  exile  on  purpose  to  remain  French.  The  weak 
hands  of  King  Louis  XV.  and  of  his  government  had  let  slip  the  fairest  colo¬ 
nies  of  France.  Canada  and  Louisiana  had  ceased  to  belong  to  her;  yet 
attachment  to  France  subsisted  there  a  long  while  and  her  influence  left 
numerous  traces  there. 

The  struggle  was  over.  King  Louis  XV.  had  lost  his  American  colonies, 
the  nascent  empire  of  India  and  the  settlements  of  Senegal.  He  recovered 
Guadaloupe  and  Martinique,  but  lately  conquered  by  the  English,  Chander- 


224 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


L 1 74S 


nugget"  and  the  ruins  of  Pondicherry.  The  humiliation  was  deep  and  the 
losses  were  irreparable.  All  the  fruits  of  the  courage,  of  the  ability  and  of 
the  passionate  devotion  of  the  French  in  India  and  in  America  were  falling 
into  the  hands  of  England.  Her  government  had  committed  many  faults  ; 
but  the  strong  action  of  a  free  people  had  always  managed  to  repair  them. 
The  day  was  coming  when  the  haughty  passions  of  the  mother-country  and 
the  proud  independence  of  her  colonies  would  engage  in  that  supreme 
struggle  which  has  given  to  the  world  the  United  States  of  America. 

It  was  not  only  in  the  colonies  and  on  the  seas  that  the  peace  of  Aix- 
U-Chapelle  had  seemed  merely  a  truce  destined  to  be  soon  broken  :  hostili¬ 
ties  had  never  ceased  in  India  or  Canada  ;  English  vessels  scoured  the  world, 
capturing,  in  spite  of  treaties,  French  merchant-ships  ;  in  Europe  and  on  the 
continent  all  the  sovereigns  were  silently  preparing  for  new  efforts  ;  only  the 
government  of  King  Louis  XV.,  intrenched  behind  its  disinterestedness  in  the 
negotiations  and  ignoring  the  fatal  influences  of  weakness  and  vanity,  believed 
itself  henceforth  beyond  the  reach  of  a  fresh  war.  The  state  of  the  royal 
treasury,  and  the  measures  to  which  recourse  was  had  to  enable  the  State  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  aggravated  the  dissension  and  disseminated  discontent 
among  all  classes  of  society.  Comptrollers-general  came  one  after  another, 
all  armed  with  new  expedients  ;  MM.  de  Machault,  Moreau  de  Sechelles,  de 
Moras,  excited,  successively,  the  wrath  and  the  hatred  of  the  people,  crushed 
by  imposts  in  peace  as  well  as  war  ;  the  clergy  refused  to  pay  the  twentieth, 
still  claiming  their  right  of  giving  only  a  free  gift ;  the  States-districts,  Lan¬ 
guedoc  and  Brittany  at  the  head,  resisted,  in  the  name  of  their  ancient  privi¬ 
leges,  the  collection  of  taxes  to  which  they  had  not  consented  ;  riots  went  on 
multiplying  :  they  even  extended  to  Paris,  where  the  government  was  accused 
of  kidnapping  children  for  transportation  to  the  colonies.  The  people  rose, 
several  police-agents  were  massacred  ;  the  king  avoided  passing  through  the 
capital  on  his  way  from  Versailles  to  the  camp  at  Campiegne  :  the  path  he 
took  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  received  the  name  of  Revolt  Road. 

Decadence  went  on  swiftly,  and  no  wonder.  At  forty  years  of  age  Louis 
XV.,  finding  every  pleasure  pall,  indifferent  to  or  forgetful  of  business  from 
indolence  and  disgust,  bored  by  everything  and  on  every  occasion,  had  come 
to  depend  solely  on  those  who  could  still  manage  to  amuse  him.  Madame  de 
Pompadour  had  accepted  this  ungrateful  and  sometimes  shameful  task.  Vigi¬ 
lant  in  attaching  the  courtiers  to  herself,  she  sowed  broadcast,  all  around  her, 
favors,  pensions,  profitable  offices,  endowing  the  gentlemen  to  facilitate  their 
marriage,  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  complaints  of  the  people  as  well  as  to  the 
protests  of  the  States  or  parliaments.  The  court  still  swarmed  with  brave 
officers,  ready  to  march  to  death  at  the  head  of  the  troops  ;  the  command  of 
armies  henceforth  depended  on  the  favor  of  Madame  the  marchioness  of 
Pompadour. 

The  day  had  come  when  the  fortune  of  war  was  about  to  show  itself  fatal 
to  France.  Marshal  Saxe  had  died  at  Chambord,  still  young  and  worn  out 
by  excesses  rather  than  by  fatigue.  War,  however,  was  inevitable;  five 


1774] 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


225 


months  of  public  or  private  negotiation,  carried  on  by  the  ambassadors  or 
personal  agents  of  the  king,  could  not  obtain  from  England  any  reparation  for 
her  frequent  violation  of  the  law  of  nations  :  the  maritime  trade  of  France 
was  destroyed  ;  the  vessels  of  the  royal  navy  were  themselves  no  longer  safe 
at  sea.  On  the  23d  of  January  an  embargo  was  laid  on  all  English  vessels  in 
French  ports,  and  war  was  officially  proclaimed.  It  had  existed  in  fact  for 
two  years  past. 

A  striking  incident  signalized  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  Rather 
a  man  of  pleasure  and  a  courtier  than  an  able  soldier,  Marshal  Richelieu  had, 
nevertheless,  the  good  fortune  to  connect  his  name  with  the  only  successful 
event  of  the  Seven  Years’  War  that  was  destined  to  remain  impressed  upon 
the  mind  of  posterity,  namely,  the  capture  of  Port  Mahon  in*  the  island  of 
Minorca. 

At  the  same  time  the  king’s  troops  were  occupying  Corsica  in  the  name 
of  the  city  of  Genoa,  the  time-honored  ally  of  France.  Mistress  of  half  the 
Mediterranean  and  secure  of  the  neutrality  of  Holland,  France  could  have 
concentrated  her  efforts  upon  the  sea  and  have  maintained  a  glorious  struggle 
with  England,  on  the  sole  condition  of  keeping  peace  on  the  continent.  The 
policy  was  simple  and  the  national  interest  palpable  ;  King  Louis  XV.  and 
some  of  his  ministers  understood  this  ;  but  they  allowed  themselves  to  drift 
into  forgetfulness  of  it. 

A  proposal  was  made  to  Maria  Theresa  for  a  treaty  of  guarantee  between 
France,  Austria  and  Prussia  ;  the  existing  war  between  England  and  France 
was  excepted  from  the  defensive  pact  ;  France  reserved  to  herself  the  right  of 
invading  Hanover.  The  same  conditions  had  been  offered  to  the  king  of 
Prussia  ;  -he  was  not  contented  with  them.  While  Maria  Theresa  was  insist¬ 
ing  at  Paris  upon  obtaining  an  offensive  as  well  as  defensive  alliance,  Freder¬ 
ick  II.  was  signing  with  England  an  engagement  not  to  permit  the  entrance 
into  Germany  of  any  foreign  troops.  “  I  only  wish  to  preserve  Germany 
from  war/’  wrote  the  king  of  Prussia  to  Louis  XV.  On  the  1st  of  May,  1756, 
at  Versailles,  Louis  XV.  replied  to  the  Anglo-Prussian  treaty  by  his  alliance 
with  the  empress  Maria  Theresa.  The  house  of  Bourbon  was  holding  out 
the  hand  to  the  house  of  Austria;  the  work  of  Henry  IV.  and  of  Richelieu, 
already  weakened  by  an  inconsistent  and  capricious  policy,  was  completely 
crumbling  to  pieces,  involving  in  its  ruin  the  military  fortunes  of  France. 

The  prudent  moderation  of  Abbe  de  Bernis,  then  in  great  favor  with 
Madame  de  Pompadour  and  managing  the  negotiations  with  Austria,  had 
removed  from  the  treaty  of  Versailles  the  most  alarming  clauses.  The 
empress  and  the  king  of  France  mutually  guaranteed  to  one  another  their 
possessions  in  Europe,  “  each  of  the  contracting  parties  promising  the  other, 
in  case  of  need,  the  assistance  of  twenty-four  thousand  men.”  Russia  and 
Saxony  were  soon  enlisted  in  the  same  alliance ;  the  king  of  Prussia’s  pleas¬ 
antries,  at  one  time  coarse  and  at  another  biting,  had  offended  the  czarina 
Elizabeth  and  the  elector  of  Saxony  as  well  as  Louis  XV.  and  Madame  de 
Pompadour.  The  weakest  of  the  allies  was  the  first  to  experience  the 
15 


226 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


[1748 


miseries  of  that  war  so  frivolously  and  gratuitously  entered  upon,  from 
covetousness,  rancour  or  weakness,  those  fertile  sources  of  the  bitterest 
sorrows  to  humanity. 

While  hostilities  were  thus  beginning  throughout  Europe,  while  negotia¬ 
tions  were  still  going  on  with  Vienna  touching  the  second  treaty  of  Versailles, 
King  Louis  XV.,  as  he  was  descending  the  staircase  of  the  marble  court  at 
Versailles  on  the  5th  of  January,  1757,  received  a  stab  in  the  side  from  a 
knife.  Withdrawing  full  of  blood  the  hand  he  had  clapped  to  his  wound,  the 
king  exclaimed  :  “  There  is  the  man  that  wounded  me,  with  his  hat  on ; 
arrest  him,  but  let  no  harm  be  done  him  !  ”  The  guards  were  already  upon 
the  murderer  and  were  torturing  him  pending  the  legal  question.  The  king 
had  been  carried  away,  slightly  wounded  by  a  deep  puncture  from  a  penknife. 
In  the  soul  of  Louis  XV.  apprehension  had  succeeded  to  the  first  instinctive 
and  kingly  impulse  of  courage  :  he  feared  the  weapon  might  be  poisoned, 
and  hastily  sent  for  a  Confessor.  The  crowd  of  courtiers  was  already  throng¬ 
ing  to  the  dauphin’s.  To  him  the  king  had  at  once  given  up  the  direction  of 
affairs. 

Justice,  meanwhile,  had  taken  the  wretched  murderer  in  hand.  Robert 
Damiens  was  a  lackey  out  of  place,  a  native  of  Artois,  of  weak  mind  and 
sometimes  appearing  to  be  deranged.  In  his  vague  and  frequently  incoherent 
depositions,  he  appeared  animated  by  a  desire  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  the 
parliament ;  he  burst  out  against  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  Christopher  de 
Beaumont,  a  virtuous  prelate  of  narrow  mind  and  austere  character.  No 
investigation  could  discover  any  conspiracy  or  accomplices  :  with  less  coolness 
and  fanatical  resolution  than  Ravaillac,  Damiens,  like  the  assassin  of  Henry 
IV.,  was  an  isolated  criminal,  prompted  to  murder  by  the  derangement  of  his 
own  mind ;  he  died,  like  Ravaillac,  amid  fearful  tortures  which  were  no 
longer  in  accord  with  public  sentiment,  and  caused  more  horror  than  awe. 
France  had  ceased  to  tremble  for  the  life  of  King  Louis  XV. 

For  one  instant  the  power  of  Madame  de  Pompadour  had  appeared  to 
be  shaken  :  the  king,  in  his  terror,  would  not  see  her  ;  M.  de  Machault,  but 
lately  her  protege,  had  even  brought  her  orders  to  quit  the  palace.  Together 
with  the  salutary  terrors  of  death,  Louis  XV.’s  repentance  soon  disappeared  ; 
the  queen  and  the  dauphin  went  back  again  to  the  modest  and  pious  retire¬ 
ment  in  which  they  passed  their  life  ;  the  marchioness  returned  in  triumph  to 
Versailles.  MM.  de  Machault  and  D’Argenson  were  exiled  :  the  latter,  who 
had  always  been  hostile  to  the  favorite,  was  dismissed  with  extreme  harshness. 
Madame  de  Pompadour  was  avenged. 

1  he  war,  meanwhile,  continued:  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  had  at  first 
won  a  splendid  victory  over  the  Austrians  in  front  of  Prague,  had  been  beaten 
at  Kolin  and  forced  to  fall  back  on  Saxony.  Marshal  d’Estrees,  slowly 
occupying  Westphalia,  got  the  duke  of  Cumberland  into  a  corner  on  the 
Weser,  and  defeated  him  at  Hastenbeck.  He  was  then  superseded  by 
Richelieu,  who,  in  Germany,  reaped  the  fruits  of  Marshal  d’Estrees’  successes; 
the  electorate  of  Hanover  was  entirely  occupied  ;  all  the  towns  opened  their 


1774] 


FRANCE.— THE  COLONIES. 


22/ 


gates;  Hesse  Cassel,  Brunswick,  the  duchies  of  Verden  and  of  Bremen  met 
with  the  same  fate.  The  marshal  levied  on  all  the  conquered  countries  heavy 
contributions,  of  which  he  pocketed  a  considerable  portion.  Meanwhile,  the 
duke  of  Cumberland,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  marshes  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Elbe,  under  the  protection  of  English  vessels,  was  demanding  to 
capitulate ;  his  offers  were  lightly  accepted.  On  the  8th  of  September, 
through  the  agency  of  Count  Lynar,  minister  of  the  king  of  Denmark,  the 
duke  of  Cumberland  and  the  marshal  signed  at  the  advanced  posts  of  the 
French  army  the  famous  convention  of  Closter-Severn.  The  king’s  troops 
kept  all  the  conquered  country ;  those  of  Hesse,  Brunswick  and  Saxe-Gotha 
returned  to  their  homes ;  the  Hanoverians  were  to  be  cantoned  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Stade.  The  marshal  had  not  taken  the  precaution  of 
disarming  them. 

Incomplete  as  the  convention  was,  it  nevertheless  excited  great  emotion 
in  Europe.  The  duke  of  Cumberland  had  lost  the  military  reputation 
acquired  at  Fontenoy  ;  the  king  of  Prussia  remained  alone  on  the  continent, 
exposed  to  all  the  efforts  of  the  allies  ;  every  day  fresh  reverses  came  down 
upon  him :  the  Russian  army  had  invaded  the  Prussian  provinces  and  beaten 
Marshal  Schwald  near  Memel  ;  twenty-five  thousand  Swedes  had  just  landed 
in  Pomerania.  Desertion  prevailed  among  the  troops  of  Frederick,  recruited 
as  they  often  were  from  among  the  vanquished. 

For  a  moment,  indeed,  Frederick  had  conceived  the  idea  of  deserting 
simultaneously  from  the  field  of  battle  and  from  life.  A  letter  in  verse  to 
the  marquis  of  Argens  pointed  clearly  to  the  notion  of  suicide.  A  firmer 
purpose,  before  long,  animated  that  soul,  that  strange  mixture  of  heroism 
and  corruption. 

Fortune,  moreover,  seemed  to  be  relaxing  her  severities.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  hereditary  grand  duke,  a  passionate  admirer  of  Frederick  II., 
the  Russians  had  omitted  to  profit  by  their  victories  ;  they  were  by  this  time 
wintering  in  Poland,  which  was  abandoned  to  all  their  exactions.  The 
Swedes  had  been  repulsed  in  the  island  of  Rugen,  Marshal  Richelieu  received 
from  Versailles  orders  to  remain  at  Halberstadt,  and  to  send  re-enforcements 
to  the  army  of  the  prince  of  Soubise  ;  it  was  for  this  latter  that  Madame  de 
Pompadour  was  reserving  the  honor  of  crushing  the  Great  Frederick. 

While  the  plunder  of  Hanover  was  serving  the  purpose  of  feeding  the 
insensate  extravagance  of  Richelieu  and  of  the  army,  Frederick  II.  had 
entered  Saxony,  hurling  back  into  Thuringia  the  troops  of  Soubise  and  of 
the  prince  of  Hildburghausen.  By  this  time  the  allies  had  endured  several 
reverses  ;  the  boldness  of  the  king  of  Prussia’s  movements  bewildered  and 
disquieted  officers  as  well  as  soldiers.  On  the  3d  of  November  the  Prussian 
army  was  all  in  order  of  battle  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Saale,  near  Rosbach. 

Soubise  hesitated  to  attack  :  being  a  man  of  honesty  and  sense,  he  took 
into  account  the  disposition  of  his  army,  as  well  as  the  bad  composition  of  the 
allied  forces,  very  superior  in  number  to  the  French  contingent.  The  com¬ 
mand  belonged  to  the  duke  of  Saxe-PIildburghausen,  who  had  no  doubt  of 


228 


FRANCE.— THE  SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR. 


[1748 


success.  Orders  were  given  to  turn  the  little  Prussian  army,  so  as  to  cut  off 
its  retreat.  All  at  once,  as  the  allied  troops  were  effecting  their  movement  to 
scale  the  heights,  the  king  of  Prussia,  suddenly  changing  front  by  one  of 
those  rapid  evolutions  to  which  he  had  accustomed  his  men,  unexpectedly 
attacked  the  French  in  flank,  without  giving  them  time  to  form  in  order  of 
battle.  The  batteries  placed  on  the  hills  were  at  the  same  time  unmasked 
and  mowed  down  the  infantry.  The  German  troops  at  once  broke  up. 
Soubise  sought  to  restore  the  battle  by  cavalry  charges,  but  he  was  crushed  in 
his  turn.  The  rout  became  general;  the  French  did  not  rally  till  they 
reached  Erfurt  ;  they  had  left  eight  thousand  prisoners  and  three  thousand 
dead  on  the  field. 

The  news  of  the  defeat  at  Rosbach  came  bursting  on  France  like  a  clap 
of  thunder;  Frederick  II.  had  renovated  affairs  and  spirits  in  Germany;  the 
day  after  Rosbach,  he  led  his  troops  into  Silesia  against  Prince  Charles  of 
Lorraine,  who  had  just  beaten  the  duke  of  Bevern  ;  the  king  of  Prussia’s 
lieutenants  were  displeased  and  disquieted  at  such  audacity.  He  assembled  a 
council  of  war,  and  then,  when  he  had  expounded  his  plans,  “  Farewell, 
gentlemen,”  said  he,  “we  shall  soon  have  beaten  the  enemy  or  we  shall 'have 
looked  on  one  another  for  the  last  time.”  On  the  3d  of  December  the 
Austrians  were  beaten  at  Lissa  as  the  French  had  been  at  Rosbach,  and 
Frederick  II.  became  the  national  hero  of  Germany;  the  Protestant  powers, 
but  lately  engaged,  to  their  sorrow,  against  him,  made  up  to  the  conqueror  : 
admiration  for  him  permeated  even  the  French  army. 

The  counsels  of  Abbe  de  Bernis  had  for  some  time  past  been  pacific ; 
from  a  court-abbe,  elegant  and  glib,  he  had  become,  on  the  25th  of  June, 
minister  of  foreign  affairs.  But  Madame  d*e  Pompadour  remained  faithful  to 
the  empress.  In  the  month  of  January,  1758,  Count  Clermont  was  appointed 
general-in-chief  of  the  army  of  Germany.  In  disregard  of  the  convention  of 
Closter-Severn,  the  Hanoverian  troops  had  just  taken  the  field  again  under 
the  orders  of  the  grand  duke  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  :  he  had  already 
recovered  possession  of  the  districts  of  Luneberg,  Zell,  a  part  of  Brunswick 
and  of  Bremen.  In  England,  Mr.  Pitt,  afterward  Lord  Chatham,  had  again 
come  into  office  ;  the  king  of  Prussia  could  henceforth  rely  upon  the  firmest 
support  from  Great  Britain. 

He  had  need  of  it.  A  fresh  invasion  of  Russians,  aided  by  the  savage 
hordes  of  the  Zaporoguian  Cossacks,  was  devastating  Prussia ;  the  sanguinary 
battle  of  Zorndorf,  forcing  them  to  fall  back  on  Poland,  permitted  Frederick 
to  hurry  into  Saxony,  which  was  attacked  by  the  Austrians.  General  Daun 
surprised  and  defeated  him  at  Hochkirch  ;  in  spite  of  his  inflexible  resolution, 
the  king  of  Prussia  was  obliged  to  abandon  Saxony.  His  ally  and  rival, 
Ferdinand  of  Brunswick,  had  just  beaten  Count  Clermont  at  Crevelt. 

The  new  commander-in-chief  of  the  king’s  armies,  prince  of  the  blood, 
brother  of  the  late  Monsieur  le  Due ,  abbot  commendatory  of  St.  Germain-des- 
Pres,  “general  of  the  Benedictines,”  as  the  soldiers  said,  had  brought  into 
Germany,  together  with  the  favor  of  Madame  de  Pompadour,  upright  inten- 


Defeat  of  the  Austrians  in  the  battle  of  Lissa,  December  3d,  1757,  by  Frederick  the  Great. 


1774] 


FRANCE.— THE  SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR. 


22g 


tions,  a  sincere  desire  to  restore  discipline,  and  some  great  allusions  about 
himself.  Defeated  at  Crevelt,  he  was  superseded  by  the  marquis  of  Contades. 
The  army  murmured  ;  they  had  no  confidence  in  their  leaders.  At  Versailles, 
Abbe  de  Bernis,  who  had  lately  become  a  cardinal,  paid  by  his  disgrace  for 
the  persistency  he  had  shown  in  advising  peace. 

Madame  de  Pompadour  had  just  procured  for  herself  a  support  in  her 
obstinate  bellicosity  :  Bernis  was  superseded  in  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs 
by  Count  Stainville,  who  was  created  duke  of  Choiseul.  After  the  death  of 
Marshal  Belle-Isle  he  exchanged  the  office  for  that  of  minister  of  war  ;  with 
it  he  combined  the  ministry  of  the  marine.  The  foreign  affairs  were 
entrusted  to  the  duke  of  Praslin,  his  cousin.  The  power  rested  almost 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  duke  of  Choiseul.  Of  high  birth,  clever,  bold, 
ambitious,  he  had  but  lately  aspired  to  couple  the  splendor  of  successes  in 
the  fashionable  world  with  the  serious  preoccupations  of  politics  :  his 
marriage  with  Mdlle.  Crozat,  a  wealthy  heiress,  amiable  and  very  much 
smitten  with  him,  had  strengthened  his  position. 

A  new  and  secret  treaty  had  just  riveted  the  alliance  between  France 
and  Austria.  M.  de  Choiseul  was  at  the  same  time  dreaming  of  attacking 
England  in  her  own  very  home,  thus  dealing  her  the  most  formidable  of 
blows.  The  preparations  were  considerable  :  M.  de  Soubise  was  recalled  from 
Germany  to  direct  the  army  of  invasion.  He  was  to  be  seconded  in  bis 
command  by  the  duke  of  Aiguillon,  to  whom,  rightly  or  wrongly,  was 
attributed  the  honor  of  having  repulsed  in  the  preceding  year  an  attempt  of 
the  English  at  a  descent  upon  the  coasts  of  Brittany.  The  expedition  was 
ready,  there  was  nothing  to  wait  for  save  the  moment  to  go  out  of  port,  but 
Admiral  Hawke  was  cruising  before  Brest ;  it  was  only  in  the  month  of 
November,  1759,  that  the  marquis  of  Conflans,  who  commanded  the  fleet, 
could  put  to  sea  with  twenty-one  vessels.  Finding  himself  at  once  pursued 
by  the  English  squadron,  he  sought  shelter  in  the  difficult  channels  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Vilaine.  The  English  dashed  in  after  him.  A  partial  engage¬ 
ment,  which  ensued,  was  unfavorable;  and  the  commander  of  the  French 
rear  guard,  M.  St.  Andre  du  Verger,  allowed  himself  to  be  knocked  to  pieces 
by  the  enemy’s  guns  in  order  to  cover  the  retreat.  The  admiral  ran  ashore 
in  the  bay  of  Le  Croisic  and  burnt  his  own  vessel ;  seven  ships  remained 
blockaded  in  the  Vilaine. 

The  commencement  of  the  campaign  of  1759  had  been  brilliant  in 
Germany  :  the  duke  of  Broglie  had  successfully  repulsed  the  attack  made  by 
Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  on  his  positions  at  Bergen ;  the  prince  had  been 
obliged  to  retire.  The  two  armies,  united  under  M.  de  Contades,  invaded 
Hesse  and  moved  upon  the  Weser;  they  were  occupying  Minden  when  Duke 
Ferdinand  threw  himself  upon  them  on  the  1st  of  August.  The  action  of 
the  two  French  generals  was  badly  combined  and  the  rout  was  complete. 

Maria  Theresa,  however,  was  in  no  hurry  to  enter  into  negotiations;  her 
enemy  seemed  to  be  bending  at  last  beneath  the  weight  of  the  double 
Austrian  and  Russian  attack.  At  one  time  Frederick  had  thought  that  he 


230 


FRANCE.— THE  SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR. 


[1748 


saw  all  Germany  rallying  round  him  ;  now  beaten  and  cantoned  in  Saxony, 
with  the  Austrians  in  front  of  him,  during  the  winter  of  1760,  he  was  every¬ 
where  seeking  alliances  and  finding  himself  everywhere  rejected  :  “  I  have 
but  two  allies  left,”  he  would  say,  “  valor  and  preseverance.”  Repeated 
victories,  gained  at  the  sword’s  point,  by  dint  of  boldness  and  in  the  extremity 
of  peril,  could  not  even  protect  Berlin.  The  capital  of  Prussia  found  itself 
constrained  to  open  its  gates  to  the  enemy,  on  the  sole  condition  that  the 
regiments  of  Cossacks  should  not  pass  the  line  of  enclosure.  When  the 
regular  troops  withdrew,  the  generals  had  not  been  able  to  prevent  the  city 
from  being  pillaged.  The  heroic  efforts  of  the  king  of  Prussia  ended  merely 
in  preserving  to  him  a  foothold  in  Saxony.  The  Russians  occupied  Poland. 

Marshal  Broglie,  on  becoming  general-in-chief  of  the  French  army,  had 
succeeded  in  holding  his  own  in  Hesse ;  he  frequently  made  Hanover 
anxious.  To  turn  his  attention  elsewhere  and  in  hopes  of  deciding  the 
French  to  quit  Germany,  the  hereditary  prince  of  Brunswick  attempted  a 
diversion  on  the  Lower  Rhine ;  he  laid  siege  to  Wesel  while  the  English 
were  preparing  for  a  descent  at  Antwerp.  Marshal  Broglie  detached  M.  de 
Castries  to  protect  the  city.  The  French  corps  had  just  arrived ;  it  was 
bivouacking.  On  the  night  between  the  15th  and  16th  of  October, 
Chevalier  d’Assas,  captain  in  the  regiment  of  Auvergne,  was  sent  to 
reconnoiter.  He  had  advanced  some  distance  from  his  men  and  happened  to 
stumble  upon  a  large  force  of  the  enemy.  The  prince  of  Brunswick  was 
preparing  to  attack.  All  the  muskets  covered  the  young  captain  :  “  Stir, 
and  thou’rt  a  dead  man,”  muttered  threatening  voices.  Without  replying, 
M.  d’Assas  collected  all  his  strength  and  shouted  :  “  Auvergne  !  Here  are  the 
foe  !  ”  At  the  same  instant  he  fell  pierced  by  twenty  balls.  [Accounts 
differ  :  but  this  is  the  tradition  of  the  Assas  family.]  The  action  thus  begun 
was  a  glorious  one.  The  hereditary  prince  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  siege 
of  Wesel  and  to  re-cross  the  Rhine.  The  French  divisions  maintained  their 
positions. 

The  war  went  on  as  bloodily  as  monotonously  and  fruitlessly,  but  the 
face  of  Europe  had  lately  altered.  The  old  king  George  II.,  who  died  on 
the  25th  of  September,  1760,  had  been  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  England 
by  his  grandson,  George  III.,  aged  twenty-two,  the  first  really  native 
sovereign  who  had  been  called  to  reign  over  England  since  the  fall  of  the 
Stuarts.  Pitt  still  reigned  over  parliament  and  over  England,  governing  a 
free  country  sovereign-masterlike.  His  haughty  prejudice  against  France 
still  ruled  all  the  decisions  of  the  English  government,  but  Lord  Bute,  the 
young  monarch’s  adviser,  was  already  whispering  pacific  counsels  destined  ere 
long  to  bear  fruit.  Pitt’s  dominion  was  tottering  when  the  first  overtures  of 
peace  arrived  in  London.  The  duke  of  Choiseul  proposed  a  congress.  He 
at  the  same  time  negotiated  directly  with  England,  and  seemed  to  be  resigned 
to  the  most  humiliating  concessions,  when  a  new  actor  came  upon  the  scene 
of  negotiation  ;  France  no  longer  stood  isolated  face  to  face  with  triumphant 
England.  The  younger  branch  of  the  house  of  Bourbon  cast  into  the  scale 


1 774] 


FRANCE.— THE  SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR. 


231 


the  weight  of  its  two  crowns  and  the  resources  of  its  navy ;  and  at  the 
moment  when  Mr.  Pitt  was  haughtily  rejecting  the  modest  ultimatum  of  the 
French  minister,  the  treaty,  known  by  the  name  of  Family  Pact ,  was  signed 
at  Paris  (August  15th,  1761),  between  France  and  the  young  king  of  Spain, 
Charles  III. 

Never  had  closer  alliance  been  concluded  between  the  two  courts,  even 
at  the  time  when  Louis  XIV.  placed  his  grandson  upon  the  throne  of  Spain. 
It  was  that  intimate  union  between  all  the  branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon 
which  had  but  lately  been  the  great  king’s  conception,  and  which  had  cost 
him  so  many  efforts  and  so  much  blood  ;  for  the  first  time  it  was  becoming 
favorable  to  France  ;  the  noble  and  patriotic  idea  of  M.  de  Choiseul  found  an 
echo  in  the  soul  of  the  king  of  Spain;  the  French  navy,  ruined  and 
humiliated,  the  French  colonies,  threatened  and  all  but  lost,  found 
faithful  support  in  the  forces  of  Spain,  recruited  as  they  were  by  a  long 
peace.  The  king  of  the  two  Sicilies  and  the  infant  duke  of  Parma  entered 
into  the  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  but  it  was  not  open  to  any  other 
power  in  Europe  to  be  admitted  to  this  family  union,  cemented  by  common 
interests  more  potent  and  more  durable  than  the  transitory  combinations  of 
policy.  In  all  the  ports  of  Spain  ships  were  preparing  to  put  to  sea.  Charles 
III.  had  undertaken  to  declare  war  against  the  English  if  peace  were  not 
concluded  before  the  1st  of  May,  1762.  France  promised  in  that  case  to  cede 
to  him  the  island  of  Minorca. 

Such  efforts,  however,  were  not  destined  to  be  attended  with  success  ; 
before  the  year  had  rolled  by,  Cuba  was  in  the  hands  of  the  English,  the 
Philippines  were  ravaged  and  the  galleons  laden  with  Spanish  gold  captured 
by  British  ships.  The  unhappy  fate  of  France  had  involved  her  generous 
ally.  The  campaign  attempted  against  Portugal,  always  hand-in-hand  with 
England,  had  not  been  attended  with  any  result.  Martinique  had  shared  the 
lot  of  Guadaloupe,  lately  conquered  by  the  English  after  a  heroic  resistance. 
Canada  and  India  had  at  last  succumbed.  War  dragged  its  slow  length  along 
in  Germany.  The  brief  elevation  of  the  young  czar  Peter  III.,  a  passionate 
admirer  of  the  Great  Frederick,  had  delivered  the  king  of  Prussia  from  a 
dangerous  enemy,  and  promised  to  give  him  an  ally  equally  trusty  and  potent. 
France  was  exhausted,  Spain  discontented  and  angry  ;  negotiations  recom¬ 
menced,  on  what  disastrous  conditions  for  the  French  colonies  in  both 
hemispheres  has  already  been  remarked  :  in  Germany  the  places  and  districts 
occupied  by  France  were  to  be  restored  ;  Lord  Bute,  like  his  great  rival, 
required  the  destruction  of  the  port  of  Dunkerque. 

The  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  already  signed  at  Fontainebleau 
on  the  3d  of  November,  1762;  it  was  received,  not  without  ill-humor  on 
the  part  of  England,  but  with  a  secret  feeling  of  relief ;  the  burdens 
which  weighed  upon  the  country  had  been  increasing  every  year. 

M.  de  Choiseul  submitted  in  despair  to  the  consequences  of  the  long- 
continued  errors  committed  by  the  government  of  Louis  XV.  The  king 
was  a  better  judge  of  his  weakness  and  of  the  general  exhaustion.  The 


232 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1748 


peace  we  have  just  made  is  neither  a  good  one,  nor  a  glorious  one; 
nobody  sees  that  better  than  I,”  he  said  in  his  private  correspondence ; 
“  but  under  such  unhappy  circumstances,  it  could  not  be  better,  and  I 
answer  for  it  that  if  we  had  continued  the  war,  we  should  have  made 
a  still  worse  one  next  year.”  All  the  patriotic  courage  and  zeal  of 
the  duke  of  Choiseul,  all  the  tardy  impulse  springing  from  the  nation’s 
anxieties  could  not  suffice  even  to  palliate  the  consequences  of  so  many 
years’  ignorance,  feebleness  and  incapacity  in  succession. 

Prussia  and  Austria  henceforth  were  left  to  confront  one  another, 
the  only  actors  really  interested  in  the  original  struggle,  the  last  to  quit 
the  battle-field  on  to  which  they  had  dragged  their  allies.  By  an  unex¬ 
pected  turn  of  luck,  Frederick  II.  had  for  a  moment  seen  Russia  becoming 
his  ally ;  a  fresh  blow  came  to  wrest  from  him  this  powerful  support. 
The  czarina  Catherine  II.,  princess  of  Anhalt-Zerbst  and  wife  of  the  czar 
Peter  III.,  having  been  proclaimed  empress,  inaugurated  a  new  policy, 
equally  bold  and  astute,  having  for  its  sole  aim  unscrupulously  and 

shamelessly  pursued  the  aggrandisement  and  consolidation  of  the  imperial 
power:  Russia  became  neutral  in  the  strife  between  Prussia  and  Austria. 
The  two  sovereigns,  left  without  allies  and  with  their  dominions  drained 
of  men  and  money,  agreed  to  a  mutual  exchange  of  their  conquests ; 

the  boundaries  of  their  territories  once  more  became  as  they  had  been 
before  the  Seven  Years’  War.  England  alone  came  triumphant  out  of 
the  strife.  She  had  won  India  forever;  and  for  some  years  at  least, 
civilized  America,  almost  in  its  entirety,  obeyed  her  laws. 

The  position  of  France  abroad,  at  the  end  of  the  Seven  Years’  War, 
was  as  painful  as  it  was  humiliating;  her  position  at  home  was  still 
more  serious  and  the  deep-lying  source  of  all  the  reverses  which  had 

come  to  overwhelm  the  French.  Slowly  lessened  by  the  faults  and 

misfortunes  of  King  Louis  XIV. ’s  later  years,  the  kingly  authority,  which 
had  fallen,  under  Louis  XV.,  into  hands  as  feeble  as  they  were  corrupt, 
was  ceasing  to  inspire  the  nation  with  the  respect  necessary  for  the 
working  of  personal  power;  public  opinion  was  no  longer  content  to 
accuse  the  favorite  and  the  ministers ;  it  was  beginning  to  make  the 
king  responsible  for  the  evils  suffered  and  apprehended.  In  default  of 
good  government  the  people  are  often  satisfied  with  glory.  This  conso¬ 
lation,  to  which  the  French  nation  had  but  lately  been  accustomed, 
failed  it  all  at  once ;  mental  irritation,  for  a  long  time  silently  brooding, 
cantoned  in  the  writings  of  philosophers  and  in  the  quatrains  of  rhyme¬ 
sters,  was  beginning  to  spread  and  show  itself  among  the  nation ;  it 
sought  throughout  the  State  an  object  for  its  wrath  :  the  powerful  society 
of  the  Jesuits  was  the  first  to  bear  all  the  brunt  of  it. 

A  French  Jesuit,  Father  Lavalette,  had  founded  a  commercial  house 
at  Martinique.  Ruined  by  the  war,  he  had  become  bankrupt  to  the 
extent  of  three  millions ;  the  order  having  refused  to  pay,  it  was  condemned 
by  the  parliament  to  do  so.  The  responsibility  was  declared  to  extend 


1 774] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


233 


to  all  the  members  of  the  Institute,  and  public  opinion  triumphed  over 
the  condemnation  with  a  “  quasi-indecent  ”  joy,  says  the  advocate  Barbier. 
Nor  was  it  content  with  this  legitimate  satisfaction.  One  of  the  courts 
which  had  until  lately  been  most  devoted  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  had 
just  set  an  example  of  severity.  In  1759,  the  Jesuits  had  been  driven 
from  Portugal  by  the  marquis  of  Pombal,  King  Joseph  I.’s  all-powerful 
minister;  their  goods  had  been  confiscated,  and  their  principal,  Malagrida, 
handed  over  to  the  Inquisition,  had  just  been  burnt  as  a  heretic  (September 
20th,  1761). 

In  1767,  the  king  of  Spain,  Charles  III.,  less  moderate  than  the 
government  of  Louis  XV.,  expelled  with  violence  all  the  members  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  from  his  territory,  thus  exciting  the  parliament  of 
Paris  to  fresh  severities  against  the  French  Jesuits,  and,  on  the  20th  of 
July,  1773,  the  court  of  Rome  itself,  yielding  at  last  to  pressure  from 
nearly  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  solemnly  pronounced  the  dissolution 
of  the  order.  The  last  houses  still  offering  shelter  to  the  Jesuits  were 
closed  ;  the  general,  Ricci,  was  imprisoned  at  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
and  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  been  so  powerful  for  nearly  three 
centuries,  took  refuge  in  certain  distant  lands,  seeking  in  oblivion  and 
silence  fresh  strength  for  the  struggle  which  it  was  one  day  to  renew. 

The  financial  embarrassments  of  the  State  were  growing  more  serious 
every  day:  to  the  debts  left  by  the  Seven  Years’  War  were  added  the 
new  wants  developed  by  the  necessities  of  commerce  and  by  the  progress 
of  civilization.  The  refusal  of  several  of  the  provincial  parliaments  to 
register  the  edicts  promulgated  by  the  crown  ended  Hn  the  arrest  of 
five  of  the  members  of  the  Parliament  of  Rennes ;  at  their  head  was 
the  attorney-general,  M.  de  la  Chalotais,  author  of  a  very  remarkable 
paper  against  the  Jesuits.  It  was  necessary  to  form  at  St.  Malo  a  King  s 
Chamber  to  try  the  accused.  M.  de  Calonne,  an  ambitious  young 
man,  the  declared  foe  of  M.  de  la  Chalotais,  was  appointed  attorney- 
general  on  the  commission.  He  pretended  to  have  discovered  grave  facts 
against  the  accused  ;  he  was  suspected  of  having  invented  them.  Public 
feeling  was  at  its  height ;  the  magistrates  loudly  proclaimed  the  theory 
of  Classes ,  according  to  which  all  the  parliaments  of  France,  responsible 
one  for  another,  formed  in  reality  but  one  body,  distributed  by  delega¬ 
tion  throughout  the  principal  towns  of  the  realm. 

Under  the  administration  of  the  duke  of  Duras,  the  agitation  subsided  in 
Brittany  ;  the  magistrates  who  had  resigned  resumed  their  seats ;  M.  de  la 
Chalotais  and  his  son,  M.  de  Caradeuc,  alone  remained  excluded  by  order  of 
the  king.  The  restored  parliament  immediately  made  a  claim  on  their  behalf, 
accompanying  the  request  with  a  formal  accusation  against  the  duke  of 
Aiguillon.  The  States  supported  the  parliament.  A  royal  ordinance  forbade 
any  proceedings  against  the  duke  of  Aiguillon,  and  enjoined  silence  on  the 
parties.  Parliament  having  persisted,  and  declaring  that  the  accusations 
against  the  duke  of  Aiguillon  attached  ( ent achate nt )  his  honor,  Louis  XV., 


234 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1748 


egged  on  by  the  chancellor,  M.  de  Maupeou,  an  ambitious,  bold,  bad  man, 
repaired  in  person  to  the  office  and  had  all  the  papers  relating  to  the  proced* 
ure  removed  before  his  eyes. 

King  Louis  XV.  had  taken  a  fresh  step  in  the  shameful  irregularity  of 
his  life;  on  the  15th  of  April,  1764,  Madame  de  Pompadour  had  died,  at  the 
age  of  forty-two,  of  heart-disease.  Less  clever,  less  ambitious,  but  more  potent 
than  Madame  de  Pompadour  over  the  faded  passions  of  a  monarch  aged 
before  his  time,  the  new  favorite,  Madame  Dubarry,  made  the  least  scrupu¬ 
lous  blush  at  the  lowness  of  her  origin  and  the  irregularity  of  herjife.  It  was, 
nevertheless,  in  her  circle  that  the  plot  was  formed  against  the  duke  of  Choi- 
seul.  Bold,  ambitious,  restless,  presumptuous  sometimes  in  his  views  and  his 
hopes,  the  minister  had  his  heart  too  nearly  in  the  right  place  and  too  proper 
a  spirit  to  submit  to  either  the  yoke  of  Madame  Dubarry  or  that  of  the  shame¬ 
less  courtiers  who  made  use  of  her  influence.  He  was  dismissed  on  the  24th 
of  December,  1770,  and  the  power  passed  into  the  hands  of  Chancellor 
Maupeou,  the  new  comptroller-general,  Abbe  Terray,  and  the  duke  of 
Aiguillon. 

With  M.  de  Choiseul  disappeared  the  sturdiest  prop  of  the  parliaments. 
In  vain  had  the  king  ordered  the  magistrates  to  resume  their  functions  and 
administer  justice.  Madame  Dubarry,  on  a  hint  from  her  able  advisers,  had 
caused  to  be  placed  in  her  apartments  a  fine  portrait  of  Charles  I.,  by  Van 
Dyck.  “France”  she  was  always  reiterating  to  the  king  with  vulgar  famil¬ 
iarity,  “  France,  thy  parliament  will  cut  off  thy  head  too  !  ” 

The  ferment  caused  by  this  measure  subsided  without  having  reached  the 
mass  of  the  nation  ;  the  majority  of  the  princes  made  it  up  with  the  court, 
the  dispossessed  magistrates  returned  one  after  another  to  Paris,  astonished 
and  mortified  to  see  justice  administered  without  them  and  advocates  plead¬ 
ing  before  the  Maupeou  parliament.  The  chancellor  had  triumphed  and 
remained  master:  all  the  old  jurisdictions  were  broken  up,  public  opinion  was 
already  forgetting  them  ;  it  was  occupied  with  a  question  more  important  still 
than  the  administration  of  justice.  The  ever  increasing  disorder  in  the 
finances  was  no  longer  checked  by  the  enregistering  of  edicts ;  the  comp¬ 
troller-general,  Abbe  Terray,  had  recourse  shamelessly  to  every  expedient  of 
a  bold  imagination  to  fill  the  royal  treasury ;  it  was  necessary  to  satisfy  the 
ruinous  demands  of  Madame  Dubarry  and  of  the  depraved  courtiers  who 
thronged  about  her.  Successive  bad  harvests  and  the  high  price  of  bread 
still  further  aggravated  the  position.  It  was  known  that  the  king  had  a  taste 
for  private  speculation  ;  he  was  accused  of  trading  in  grain  and  of  buying  up 
the  stores  required  for  feeding  the  people.  The  odious  rumor  of  this  famine- 
pact,  as  the  bitter  saying  was,  soon  spread  among  the  mob.  Before  its  fall, 
the  parliament  of  Rouen  had  audaciously  given  expression  to  these  dark  accu¬ 
sations  ;  it  had  ordered  proceedings  to  be  taken  against  the  monopolists.  A 
royal  injunction  put  a  veto  upon  the  prosecutions.  Contempt  grew  more  and 
more  profound ;  the  king  and  Madame  Dubarry,  by  their  shameful  lives, 
Maupeou  and  Abbe  Terray,  by  destroying  the  last  bulwarks  of  the  public  liber- 


1774] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


235 

ties,  were  digging  with  their  own  hands  the  abyss  in  which  the  old  French 
monarchy  was  about  to  be  soon  engulfed. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  dauphin  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  on  the  20th 
of  December,  1765,  profoundly  regretted  by  the  bulk  of  the  nation,  who  knew 
his  virtues  without  troubling  themselves,  like  the  court  and  the  philosophers, 
about  the  stiffness  of  his  manners  and  his  complete  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
the  clergy.  The  new  dauphin,  who  would  one  day  be  Louis  XVI.,  was  still  a 
child:  the  king  had  him  brought  into  his  closet.  “Poor  France!”  he  said 
sadly,  “  a  king  of  fifty-five  and  a  dauphin  of  eleven  !  ”  The  dauphiness  and 
Queen  Mary  Leczinska  soon  followed  the  dauphin  to  the  tomb  (1767,  1768). 
The  king,  thus  left  alone,  and  scared  by  the  repeated  deaths  around  him, 
appeared  for  awhile  to  be  drawn  closer  to  his  daughters,  for  whom  he  had 
always  retained  some  sort  of  affection,  a  mixture  of  weakness  and  habit.  One 
of  them,  Madame  Louise,  who  was  deeply  pious,  left  him  to  enter  the  convent 
of  the  Carmelites ;  he  often  went  to  see  her,  and  granted  her  all  the  favors 
she  asked.  But  by  this  time  Madame  Dubarry  had  become  all  powerful ;  to 
secure  to  her  the  honors  of  presentation  at  court  the  king  personally  solicited 
the  ladies  with  whom  he  was  intimate  in  order  to  get  them  to  support  his 
favorite  on  this  new  stage  ;  when  the  youthful  Marie  Antoinette,  archduchess 
of  Austria  and  daughter  of  Maria  Theresa,  whose  marriage  the  duke  of  Choi- 
seul  had  negotiated,  arrived  in  France,  in  1770,  to  espouse  the  dauphin, 
Madame  Dubarry  appeared  alone  with  the  royal  family  at  the  banquet  given 
at  La  Muette  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage.  Madame  Dubarry  was  to 
reign  as  much  as  Louis  XV. 

Before  his  fall  the  duke  of  Choiseul  had  made  a  last  effort  to  revive  abroad 
that  fortune  of  France  which  he  saw  sinking  at  home  without  his  being  able 
to  apply  any  effective  remedy.  He  had  vainly  attempted  to  give  colonies 
once  more  to  France  by  founding  in  French  Guiana  settlements  which  had  been 
unsuccessfully  attempted  by  a  Rouennese  company  as  early  as  1634.  The 
enterprise  was  badly  managed ;  the  numerous  colonists,  of  very  diverse 
origin  and  worth,  were  cast  without  resources  upon  a  territory  as  unhealthy  as 
fertile.  No  preparations  had  been  made  to  receive  them  ;  the  majority  died 
of  disease  and  want.  An  attempt  made  about  the  same  epoch  at  St.  Lucie 
was  attended  with  the  same  result.  The  great  ardor  and  the  rare  aptitude 
for  distant  enterprises  which  had  so  often  manifested  themselves  in  France 
from  the  fifteenth  to  the  seventeenth  century  seemed  to  be  henceforth  extin¬ 
guished.  Only  the  colonies  of  the  Antilles,  which  had  escaped  from  the  mis¬ 
fortunes  of  war,  and  were  by  this  time  recovered  from  their  disasters,  offered 
any  encouragement  to  the  patriotic  efforst  of  the  duke  of  Choiseul.  He  had 
been  more  fortunate  in  Europe  than  in  the  colonies. 

Corsica,  whose  independence  had  been  gloriously  but  fruitlessly  defended 
by  Pascal  Paoli,  was  to  be  the  last  conquest  of  the  old  French  monarchy. 
Great  or  little,  magnificent  or  insignificant,  from  Richelieu  to  the  duke  of 
Choiseul,  France  had  managed  to  preserve  her  territorial  acquisitions;  in 
America  and  in  Asia,  Louis  XV.  had  shamefully  lost  Canada  and  the  Indies; 


236 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1748 


in  Europe,  the  diplomacy  of  his  ministers  had  given  to  the  kingdom  Lorraine 
and  Corsica.  The  political  annihilation  of  Louis  XV.  in  Europe  had  been 
completed  by  the  dismissal  of  the  duke  of  Choiseul. 

France  did  not  do  anything  and  could  not  do  anything  ;  the  king’s  secret 
negotiators,  as  well  as  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  had  been  tricked  by  the 
allied  powers.  “  Ah  !  if  Choiseul  had  been  here  !  ”  exclaimed  King  Louis 
XV.,  it  is  said,  when  he  heard  of  the  partition  of  Poland.  The  duke  of  Choi¬ 
seul  would  no  doubt  have  been  more  clear-sighted  and  better  informed  than 
the  duke  of  Aiguillon,  but  his  policy  could  have  done  no  good.  Frederick  II. 
knew  that. 

The  partition  of  Poland  was  barely  accomplished,  and  already  King 
Louis  XV.,  for  a  moment  roused  by  the  audacious  aggression  of  the  German 
courts,  had  sunk  back  into  the  shameful  lethargy  of  his  life.  When  Madame 
Louise,  the  pious  Carmelite  of  St.  Denis,  succeeded  in  awakening  in  her  father’s 
soul  a  gleam  of  religious  terror,  the  courtiers  in  charge  of  the  royal  pleasures 
redoubled  their  efforts  to  distract  the  king  from  thoughts  so  perilous  for  their 
own  fortunes.  Louis  XV.,  fluctuating  between  remorse  and  depravity,  ruled 
by  Madame  Dubarry,  bound  hand  and  foot  to  the  triumvirate  of  Chancellor 
Maupeou,  Abbe  Terray  and  the  duke  of  Aiguillon,  who  were  consuming 
between  them  in  his  name  the  last  remnants  of  absolute  power,  fell  suddenly 
ill  of  small-pox.  The  princesses,  his  daughters,  had  never  had  that  terrible 
disease,  the  scourge  and  terror  of  all  classes  of  society,  yet  they  bravely  shut 
themselves  up  with  the  king,  lavishing  their  attentions  upon  him  to  the  last 
gasp.  Death,  triumphant,  had  vanquished  the  favorite  :  Madame  Dubarry 
was  sent  away  as  soon  as  the  nature  of  the  malady  had  declared  itself.  The 
king  charged  his  grand  almoner  to  ask  pardon  of  the  courtiers  for  the  scandal 
he  had  caused  them. 

Louis  XV.  died  on  the  loth  of  May,  1774,  in  his  sixty-fourth  year,  after 
reigning  fifty-nine  years,  despised  by  the  people  who  had  not  so  long  ago 
given  him  the  name  of  Well-beloved,  and  whose  attachment  he  had  worn  out 
by  his  cold  indifference  about  affairs  and  the  national  interests  as  much  as  by 
the  irregularities  of  his  life.  With  him  died  the  old  French  monarchy,  that 
proud  power  which  had  sometimes  ruled  Europe  while  always  holding  a  great 
position  therein.  Henceforth  France  was  marching  toward  the  unknown, 
tossed  about  as  she  was  by  divers  movements,  which  were  mostly  hostile  to 
the  old  state  of  things,  blindly  and  confusedly  as  yet,  but,  under  the  direction 
of  masters  as  inexperienced  as  they  were  daring,  full  of  frequently  noble 
though  nearly  always  extravagant  and  reckless  hopes,  all  founded  on  a 
thorough  reconstruction  of  the  bases  of  society  and  of  its  ancient  props. 

Nowhere  and  at  no  epoch  had  literature  shone  with  so  vivid  a  luster  as 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.;  never  has  it  been  in  a  greater  degree  the 
occupation  and  charm  of  mankind,  never  has  it  left  nobler  and  rarer  models 
behind  it  for  the  admiration  and  imitation  of  the  coming  race  :  the  writers 
of  Louis  XV. ’s  age,  for  all  their  brilliancy  and  all  their  fertility,  themselves 
felt  their  inferiority  in  respect  of  their  predecessors.  Voltaire  confessed  as 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


237 


1774] 

much  with  a  modesty  which  was  by  no  means  familiar  to  him.  Inimitable  in 
their  genius,  Corneille,  Bossuet,  Pascal,  Moliere,  left  their  imprint  upon  the 
generation  that  came  after  them  ;  it  had  judgment  enough  to  set  them  by 
acclamation  in  the  ranks  of  the  classics;  in  their  case,  greatness  displaced 
time.  Voltaire  took  Racine  for  model;  La  Motte  imagined  that  he  could 
imitate  La  Fontaine.  The  illustrious  company  of  great  minds  which  sur¬ 
rounded  the  throne  of  Louis  XIV.  and  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  lasting 
splendor  of  his  reign  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  ingratitude  on  the  part  of 
its  successors  ;  but,  from  the  pedestal  to  which  they  raised  it,  it  exercised  no 
potent  influence  upon  new  thought  and  new  passions. 

Grandeur  is  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  Montesquieu’s  ideas  as  it  is 
of  the  seventeenth  century  altogether.  In  1721,  when  he  still  had  his  seat  on 
the  fleurs-de-lis,  he  had  published  his  Lcttrcs  pcrsancs,  an  imaginary  trip  of 
two  exiled  Parsees,  freely  criticizing  Paris  and  France.  The  book  appeared 
under  the  regency,  and  bears  the  imprint  of  it  in  the  licentiousness  of  the 
descriptions  and  the  witty  irreverence  of  the  criticisms.  Sometimes,  however, 
the  future  gravity  of  Montesquieu’s  genius  reveals  itself  amid  the  shrewd  or 
biting  judgments. 

The  success  of  the  Lcttrcs  pcrsancs  was  great  ;  Montesquieu  had  said 
what  many  people  thought  without  daring  to  express  it  ;  the  doubt  which 
was  nascent  in  his  mind,  and  which  he  could  only  withstand  by  an  effort  of 
will,  the  excessive  freedom  of  the  tone  and  of  the  style  scared  the  authori¬ 
ties,  however  ;  when  he  wanted  to  get  into  the  French  Academy,  in  the  place 
of  M.  de  Sacy,  Cardinal  Fleury  opposed  it  formally.  It  was  only  on  the  24th 
of  January,  1728,  that  Montesquieu,  recently  elected,  delivered  his  reception 
speech. 

Montesquieu  thus  performed  the  prelude  to  the  great  work  of  his  life  : 
he  had  been  working  for  twenty  years  at  the  Esprit  dcs  l ois ,  when  he  pub¬ 
lished  it  in  1748.  “  In  the  course  of  twenty  years,”  he  says,  “  I  saw  my  work 

begin,  grow,  progress  and  end.”  He  had  placed  as  the  motto  to  his  book 
this  Latin  phrase,  which  at  first  excited  the  curiosity  of  readers  :  Prolcm  sine 
niatrc  creatani  ( Offspring  begotten  without  a  mother).  “  Young  man,”  said 
Montesquieu,  by  this  time  advanced  in  years,  to  M.  Suard  (afterward  perpet¬ 
ual  secretary  to  the  French  Academy),  “  young  man,  when  a  notable  book  is 
written,  genius  is  its  father  and  liberty  its  mother ;  that  is  why  I  wrote  upon 
the  title-pag^e  of  my  work  :  Prolcm  sine  niatrc  creatam . 

It  was  liberty  at  the  same  time  as  justice  that  Montesquieu  sought  and 
claimed  in  his  profound  researches  into  the  laws  which  have  from  time  imme¬ 
morial  governed  mankind  ;  that  new  instinctive  idea  of  natural  rights,  those 
new  yearnings  which  were  beginning  to  dawn  in  all  hearts,  remained  as  yet, 
lor  the  most  part,  upon  the  surface  of  their  minds  and  of  their  lives ;  what 
was  demanded  at  that  time  in  France  was  liberty  to  speak  and  write  lathei 
than  to  act  and  govern.  Montesquieu,  on  the  contrary,  went  to  the  bottom 
of  things,  and,  despite  the  natural  moderation  of  his  mind,  he  propounded 
theories  so  perilous  for  absolute  power  that  he  dared  not  have  his  book 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


[1748 


238 

printed  at  Paris,  and  brought  it  out  in  Geneva ;  its  success  was  immense  : 
before  his  death,  Montesquieu  saw  twenty-one  French  editions  published  and 
translations  in  all  the  languages  of  Europe.  “  Mankind  had  lost  its  title- 
deeds,”  says  Voltaire  :  “  Montesquieu  recovered  and  restored  them.” 

The  intense  labor,  the  immense  courses  of  reading,  to  which  Montes¬ 
quieu  had  devoted  himself,  had  exhausted  his  strength  ;  he  died  on  the  10th 
of  February,  1755,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six,  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the 
philosophers,  whose  way  he  had  prepared  before  them  without  having  ever 
belonged  to  their  number.  Diderot  alone  followed  his  bier.  Fontenelle, 
nearly  a  hundred  years  old,  was  soon  to  follow  him  to  the  tomb. 

Born  at  Rouen  in  February,  1657,  and  nephew  of  Corneille  on  the 
mother’s  side,  Fontenelle  did  not  receive  from  nature  any  of  the  unequal  and 
sublime  endowments  which  have  fixed  the  dramatic  crown  forever  upon  the 
forehead  of  Corneille  ;  but  he  inherited  the  wit  and  bel  esprit  which  the 
great  tragedian  hid  beneath  the  splendors  of  his  genius.  When,  at  forty 
years  of  age,  he  became  perpetual  secretary  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  he 
had  already  written  his  book  on  the  Plurality  des  Mondes ,  the  first  attempt  at 
that  popularization  of  science  which  has  spread  so  since  then.  He  wrote  for 
society  and  not  for  scholars,  of  whose  labors  and  discoveries  he  gave  an 
account  to  society.  His  extracts  from  the  labors  of  the  Academy  of  Science, 
and  his  eulogies  of  the  Academicians  are  models  of  lucidness  under  an 
ingenious  and  subtle  form,  rendered  simple  and  strong  by  dint  of  wit. 

So  much  cool  serenity  and  so  much  taste  for  noble  intellectual  works 
prolonged  the  existence  of  Fontenelle  beyond  the  ordinary  limits  ;  he  was 
ninety-nine  and  not  yet  weary  of  life  :  “  If  I  might  but  reach  the  strawberry- 
season  once  more  !  ”  he  had  said.  He  died  at  Paris  on  the  9th  of  January, 
1 759  »  with  him  disappeared  what  remained  of  the  spirit  and  traditions  of 
Louis  XIV. ’s  reign.  Montesquieu  and  Fontenelle  were  the  last  links  which 
united  the  seventeenth  century  to  the  new  era.  The  flood  of  free-thinking 
had  spared  Montesquieu  and  Fontenelle;  it  was  about  to  carry  away  Voltaire 
almost  as  far  as  Diderot. 

Born  at  Paris  on  the  21st  of  November,  1694,  Frangois  Marie  Arouet  de 
Voltaire  was  sent  to  the  college  of  Louis-le-Grand,  which  at  that  time 
belonged  to  the  Jesuits.  As  early  as  then  little  Arouet,  who  was  weak  and 
in  delicate  health,  but  withal  of  a  very  lively  intelligence,  displayed  a  freedom 
of  thought  and  a  tendency  to  irreverence  which  already  disquieted  and 
angered  his  masters.  Father  Lejay  jumped  from  his  chair  and  took  the  boy 
by  the  collar,  exclaiming,  “  Wretch,  thou  wilt  one  of  these  days  raise  the 
standard  of  Deism  in  France  !  ”  Father  Pallou,  his  confessor,  accustomed  to 
read  the  heart,  said  as  he  shook  his  head,  “  This  child  is  devoured  with  a 
thirst  for  celebrity.”  Under  a  despotic  government,  this  awkward  disposition 
must  necessarily  lead  to  painful  consequences  ;  it  was  within  the  precincts  of 
the  Bastile  that  young  Arouet  wrote  the  first  part  of  the  poem  called  La 
Hcnriade,  under  the  title  of  La  Ligne  ;  when  he  at  last  obtained  his  release  in 
April,  1718,  he  at  the  same  time  received  orders  to  reside  at  Chatenay,  where 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


239 


1774J 

his  father  had  a  country  house.  It  was  on  coming  out  of  the  Bastile  that 
the  poet  took,  from  a  small  family-estate,  that  name  of  Voltaire  which  he  was 
to  render  so  famous. 

The  players  were  at  that  time  rehearsing  the  tragedy  of  CEdipe ,  which 
was  performed  on  the  18th  of  November,  1718,  with  great  success. 
The  daring  flights  of  philosophy  introduced  by  the  poet  into  this  pro¬ 
foundly  and  terribly  religious  subject  excited  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
rou/s;  Voltaire  was  well  received  by  the  regent,  who  granted  him  an 
honorarium.  “  Monseigneur,”  said  Voltaire,  “  I  should  consider  it  very 
kind  if  his  Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  provide  henceforth  for  my 
board,  but  I  beseech  your  Highness  to  provide  no  more  for  my  lodging.” 
Voltaire’s  acts  of  imprudence  were  destined  more  than  once  to  force 
him  into  leaving  Paris;  he  all  his  life  preserved  such  a  horror  of  prison 
that  it  mad.e  him  commit  more  than  one  platitude.  “  I  have  a  mortal 
aversion  for  prison,”  he  wrote  in  1734;  once  more,  however,  he  was  to  be  an 
impate  of  the  Bastile. 

After  another  visit  to  the  Bastile,  he  passed  three  years  in  England, 
engaged  in  learning  English  and  finishing  La  Henriade ,  which  he  published  by 
subscription  in  1727.  Touched  by  the  favor  shown  by  English  society  to  the 
author  and  the  poem,  he  dedicated  to  the  queen  of  England  his  new  work, 
which  was  entirely  consecrated  to  the  glory  of  France;  three  successive 
editions  were  disposed  of  in  less  than  three  weeks.  Lord  Bolingbroke, 
havjng  returned  to  England  and  been  restored  to  favor,  did  potent  service  to 
his  old  friend,  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  that  literary  society  in  which  Pope 
and  Swift  held  sway.  When,  in  the  month  of  March,  1729,  Voltaire  at  last 
obtained  permission  to  revisit  France,  he  had  worked  much  without  bringing 
out  anything. 

Voltaire  had  just  inaugurated  the  great  national  tragedy  of  his  country, 
as  he  had  likewise  given  it  the  only  national  epic  attempted  in  France  since 
the  Chansons  de  geste ;  by  one  of  those  equally  sudden  and  imprudent 
reactions  to  which  he  was  always  subject,  it  was  not  long  before  he  himself 
damaged  his  own  success  by  the  publication  of  his  Lettres  philosophiques  sur 
les  Anglais. 

The  light  and  mocking  tone  of  these  letters,  the  constant  comparison 
between  the  two  peoples,  with  many  a  gibe  at  the  English,  but  always  turning 
to  their  advantage,  the  preference  given  to  the  philosophical  system  of 
Newton  over  that  of  Descartes,  lastly  the  attacks  upon  religion  concealed 
beneath  the  cloak  of  banter — all  this  was  more  than  enough  to  ruffle  the 
tranquillity  of  Cardinal  Fleury.  The  book  was  brought  before  parliament  : 
Voltaire  was  disquieted.  He  ran,  first,  for  refuge  to  Bale,  then  to  the  castle 
of  Cirey,  to  the  Marchioness  du  Chatelet’s,  a  woman  as  learned  as  she  was 
impassioned,  devoted  to  literature,  physics  and  mathematics,  and  tenderly 
attached  to  Voltaire,  whom  she  enticed  along  with  her  into  the  paths  of 
science.  For  fifteen  years  Madame  du  Chatelet  and  Cirey  ruled  supreme 
over  the  poet’s  life.  Every  now  and  then,  terrified  in  consequence  of  some 


240 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


Li  748 


bit  of  anti-religious  rashness,  he  took  flight,  going  into  hiding  at  one  time  to 
the  court  of  Lorraine  beneath  the  wing  of  King  Stanislaus,  at  another  time 
in  Holland,  at  a  palace  belonging  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  the  Great 
Frederick. 

Madame  du  Chatelet  died  on  the  4th  of  September,  1749,  at  Luneville, 
where  she  then  happened  to  be  with  Voltaire.  Their  intimacy  had 
experienced  many  storms,  yet  the  blow  was  a  cruel  one  for  the  poet ;  in 
losing  Madame  du  Chatelet  he  was  losing  the  center  and  the  guidance  of  his 
life. 

Despite  the  luster  of  that  fame  which  was  attested  by  the  frequent 
attacks  of  his  enemies  as  much  as  by  the  admiration  of  his  friends, 
Voltaire  was  displeased  with  his  sojourn  at  Paris,  and  weary  of  the  court  and 
the  men  of  letters.  The  king  had  always  exhibited  toward  him  a  coldness 
which  the  poet’s  adulation  had  not  been  able  to  overcome  ;  he  had  offended 
Madame  de  Pompadour,  who  had  but  lately  been  well  disposed  toward  him  ; 
the  religious  circle,  ranged  around  the  queen  and  the  dauphin,  was  of  course 
hostile  to  him. 

In  tracing  the  tragic  episodes  of  the  war,  Voltaire,  set  as  his  mind  was  on 
the  royal  favor,  had  wanted  in  the  first  place  to  pay  homage  to  the  friends  he 
had  lost.  It  was  in  the  “  eulogium  of  the  officers  who  fell  in  the  campaign  of 
1741”  that  he  touchingly  called  attention  to  the  memory  of  Vauvenargues. 
He,  born  at  Aix  on  the  6th  of  August,  1715,  died  of  his  wounds,  at  Paris,  in 
1747.  His  friends  had  constrained  him  to  publish  a  little  book,  one  only,  the 
Introduction  a  la  connaissance  de  V esprit  humain ,  suivie  de  reflexions  et  de 
maximes.  Its  success  justified  their  affectionate  hopes  :  delicate  minds  took 
keen  delight  in  the  first  essays  of  Vauvenargues.  Hesitating  between  religion 
and  philosophy,  with  a  palpable  leaning  toward  the  latter,  ill  and  yet  bravely 
bearing  the  disappointments  and  sufferings  of  his  life,  Vauvenargues  was 
already  expiring  at  thirty  years  of  age,  when  Provence  was  invaded  by  the 
enemy.  The  dying  man  remained  in  his  chimney-corner,  where  he  soon 
expired,  leaving  among  the  public  and  still  more  among  those  who  had  known 
him  personally  the  impression  of  great  promise  sadly  extinguished.  “  It  was 
his  fate,”  says  his  faithful  biographer,  M.  Gilbert,  “  to  be  always  opening  his 
wings  and  to  be  unable  to  take  flight.” 

Voltaire,  quite  on  the  contrary,  was  about  to  take  a  fresh  flight.  After 
several  rebuffs  and  long  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  eighteen  ecclesiastics 
who  at  that  time  had  seats  in  the  French  Academy,  he  had  been  elected  to  it 
in  1746.  In  1750,  he  offered  himself  at  one  and  the  same  time  for  the 
Academy  of.  Sciences  and  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions:  he  failed  in  both 
candidatures.  This  mishap  filled  the  cup  of  his  ill-humor.  For  a  long  time 
past  Frederick  II.  had  been  offering  the  poet  favors  which  he  had  long 
refused.  The  disgust  he  experienced  at  Paris  through  his  insatiable  vanity 
made  him  determine  upon  seeking  another  arena ;  after  having  accepted  a 
pension  and  a  place  from  the  king  of  Prussia,  Voltaire  set  out  for  Berlin. 
He  was  received  there  with  enthusiasm  and  as  sovereign  of  the  little  court  of 


1774] 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


241 


philosophers;  but  his  intimacy  with  Frederick  II.  did  not  last  long;  it  had 
for  awhile  done  honor  to  both  of  them,  it  had  ended  by  betraying  the 
pettinesses  and  the  meannesses  natural  to  the  king  as  well  as  to  the  poet. 
Frederick  did  not  remain  without  anxiety  on  the  score  of  Voltaire’s  rancour  ; 
Voltaire  dreaded  nasty  diplomatic  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  king ;  he 
had  been  threatened  with  as  much  by  Lord  Keith,  Milord  Marcchal,  as  he 
was  called  on  the  continent  from  the  hereditary  title  he  had  lost  in  his  own 
country  through  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the  Stuarts. 

Voltaire  was  already  in  France,  but  he  dared  not  venture  to  Paris. 
Mutilated,  clumsy  or  treacherous  issues  of  the  Abrtge  de  V Hist oire  universelle 
had  already  stirred  the  bile  of  the  clergy ;  there  were  to  be  seen  in  circulation 
copies  of  La  Pucelle ,  a  disgusting  poem  which  the  author  had  been  keeping 
back  and  bringing  out  alternately  for  several  years  past.  Voltaire  fled  from 
Colmar,  where  the  Jesuits  held  sway,  to  Lyons,  where  he  found  Marshal 
Richelieu,  but  lately  his  protector  and  always  his  friend,  who  was  repairing  to 
his  government  of  Languedoc.  Cardinal  Tencin  refused  to  receive  the 
poet,  who  regarded  this  sudden  severity  as  a  sign  of  the  feelings  of  the  court 
toward  him.  He  took  fright  and  sought  refuge  in  Switzerland,  where  he 
soon  settled  on  the  lake  of  Geneva,  pending  his  purchase  of  the  estate  of 
Ferney  in  the  district  of  Gex  and  that  of  Tourney  in  Burgundy.  He  was 
henceforth  fixed,  free  to  pass  from  France  to  Switzerland  and  from  Switzerland 
to  France;  in  the  comparative  security  which  he  thought  he  possessed,  he 
gave  scope  to  all  his  free-thinking,  which  had  but  lately  been  often  cloaked 
according  to  circumstances.  In  the  great  campaign  against  Christianity 
undertaken  by  philosophers,  Voltaire,  so  long  a  wavering  ally,  will  henceforth 
fight  in  the  foremost  ranks  ,  it  is  he  who  shouts  to  Diderot,  “  Squelch  the 
thing  {Ecrasez  Vinfdme)  !  ”  The  masks  are  off,  and  the  fight  is  bare-faced  ;  the 
Encyclopedists  march  out  to  the  conquest  of  the  world  in  the  name  of 
reason,  humanity  and  free-thinking ;  even  when  he  has  ceased  to  work  at  the 
Encyclopedia  Voltaire  marches  with  them. 

Innate  love  of  justice  and  horror  of  fanaticism  had  inspired  Voltaire  with 
his  zeal  on  behalf  of  the  Calas  family  and  other  persecuted  Protestants ;  a 
more  personal  feeling,  a  more  profound  sympathy  caused  his  grief  and  his 
dread  when  Chevalier  de  la  Barre,  accused  of  having  mutilated  a  crucifix,  was 
condemned,  in  1766,  to  capital  punishment  ;  the  skepticism  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  sudden  and  terrible  reactions  toward  fanatical  violence,  as  a 
protest  and  a  pitiable  struggle  againt  the  doubt  which  was  invading  it  on  all 
sides:  the  chevalier  was  executed;  he  was  not  twenty  years  old.  He  was  an 
infidel  and  a  libertine,  like  the  majority  of  the  young  men  of  his  day  and  of 
his  age  :  the  crime  he  expiated  so  cruelly  was  attributed  to  reading  bad  books, 
which  had  corrupted  him. 

Voltaire  reigned  peacefully,  however,  over  his  little  empire  at  Ferney, 
courted  from  afar  by  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  who  made  any  profession 
of  philosophy.  “  I  have  a  sequence  of  four  kings,”  he  would  say  with  a 
laugh  when  he  counted  his  letters  from  royal  personages.  The  empress  of 
16 


242 


FRANCE. — LITERATURE. 


[1748 


Russia,  Catherine  II.,  had  dethroned,  in  his  mind,  the  Great  Frederick.  He 
was  destined  to  die  at  Paris;  there  he  found  the  last  joys  of  his  life,  and  there 
he  shed  the  last  rays  of  his  glory. 

Voltaire’s  incessant  activity  bore  many  fruits  which  survived  him  ;  he 
contributed  powerfully  to  the  triumph  of  those  notions  of  humanity,  justice 
and  freedom,  which,  superior  to  his  own  ideal,  did  honor  to  the  eighteenth 
century  ,  he  became  the  model  of  a  style,  clear,  neat,  brilliant,  the  natural 
exponent  of  his  own  mind,  far  more  than  of  the  as  yet  confused  hopes  and 
aspirations  of  his  age ,  he  defended  the  rights  of  common  sense  and  some¬ 
times  withstood  the  anti-religious  passion  of  his  friends,  but  he  blasted  both 
minds  and  souls  with  his  skeptical  gibes;  his  bitter  and  at  the  same  time 
temperate  banter  disturbed  consciences  which  would  have  been  revolted  by 
the  materialistic  doctrines  of  the  Encyclopedists,  the  circle  of  infidelity 
widened  under  his  hands ,  his  disciples  were  able  to  go  beyond  him  on  the 
fatal  path  he  had  opened  to  them.  Voltaire  has  remained  the  true  represen¬ 
tative  of  the  mocking  and  the  stone-flinging  phase  of  free-thinking,  knowing 
nothing  of’  the  deep  yearnings  any  more  than  of  the  supreme  wretchlessness 
of  the  human  soul,  which  it  kept  imprisoned  within  the  narrow  limits  of  earth 
and  time.  At  the  outcome  from  the  bloody  slough  of  the  French  revolution 
and  from  the  chaos  it  caused  in  men’s  souls,  it  was  the  infidelity  of  Voltaire 
which  remained  at  the  bottom  of  the  skepticism  and  moral  disorder  of  the 
France  of  our  day.  The  demon  which  torments  her  is  even  more  Voltairian 
than  materialistic. 

Other  influences,  more  sincere  and  at  the  same  time  more  dangerous, 
were  simultaneously  undermining  men’s  minds.  The  group  of  Encyclopedists, 
less  prudent  and  less  temperate  than  Voltaire,  flaunted  openly  the  flag  of 
revolt.  At  the  head  marched  Denis  Diderot,  born  in  1715,  the  most  daring 
of  all,  the  most  genuinely  affected  by  his  own  ardor,  without  perhaps  being 
the  most  sure  of  his  ground  in  his  negations.  He  was  an  original  and 
exuberant  nature,  expansively  open  to  all  new  impressions ;  it  was  in 
conjunction  with  his  friends  and  in  community  of  ideas  that  Diderot  under¬ 
took  the  immense  labor  of  the  Encyclopedia.  Having,  in  the  first  instance, 
received  a  commission  from  a  publisher  to  translate  the  English  collection  of 
[Ephraim]  Chambers,  Diderot  was  impressed  with  a  desire  to  unite  in  one 
and  the  same  collection  all  the  efforts  and  all  the  talents  of  his  epoch,  so  as 
to  render  joint  homage  to  the  rapid  progress  of  science.  Won  over  by  his 
enthusiasm,  D’Alembert  consented  to  share  the  task;  and  he  wrote  the 
beautiful  exposition  in  the  introduction.  Voltaire  sent  his  articles  from  Les 
Delices.  The  Jesuits  had  proposed  to  take  upon  themselves  a  certain  number 
of  questions,  but  their  co-operation  was  declined :  it  was  a  monument  to 
philosophy  that  the  Encyclopedists  aspired  to  raise :  the  clergy  were  in 
commotion  at  seeing  the  hostile  army,  till  then  uncertain  and  unbanded,  rally 
organized  and  disciplined  around  this  vast  enterprise.  New  severities  on  the 
part  of  the  parliament  and  the  grand  council  dealt  a  blow  to  the  philosophers 
before  long  :  the  editors’  privilege  was  revoked.  Orders  were  given  to  seize 


1774] 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE, 


243 


Diderot’s  papers.  Lamoignon  de  Malesherbes,  who  was  at  that  time  director 
of  the  press,  and  favorable  to  freedom  without  ever  having  abused  it  in 
thought  or  action,  sent  him  secret  warning.  Diderot  ran  home  in 
consternation. 

The  severities  ordered  against  the  Encyclopedia  did  not  stop  its  publication  ; 
D’Alembert,  however,  weary  of  the  struggle,  had  ceased  to  take  part  in  the 
editorship.  An  infidel  and  almost  a  materialist  by  the  geometer’s  rule,  who 
knows  no  power  but  the  laws  of  mathematics,  he  did  not  carry  into  anti- 
religious  strife  the  bitterness  of  Voltaire,  or  the  violence  of  Diderot.  More 
and  more  absorbed  by  pure  science,  which  he  never  neglected  save  for  the 
French  Academy,  whose  perpetual  secretary  he  had  become,  D’Alembert  left: 
to  Diderot  alone  the  care  of  continuing  the  Encyclopedia.  When  he  died,  ira 
1783,  at  fifty-six  years  of  age,  the  work  had  been  finished  nearly  twenty  years. 
In  spite  of  the  bad  faith  of  publishers,  who  mutilated  articles  to  render  them 
acceptable,  in  spite  of  the  condemnation  of  the  clergy  and  the  severities  of 
the  council,  the  last  volumes  of  the  Encyclopedia  had  appeared  in  1765. 

This  immense  work,  unequal  and  confused  as  it  was,  a  medley  of  various 
and  often  ill-assorted  elements,  undertaken  for  and  directed  to  the  fixed  end 
of  an  aggressive  emancipation  of  thought,  had  not  sufficed  to  absorb  the 
energy  and  powers  of  Diderot.  Diderot  died  on  the  29th  of  July,  1784,  still 
poor,  an  invalid  for  some  time  past,  surrounded  to  the  end  by  his  friends,  who 
rendered  back  to  him  that  sincere  and  devoted  affection  which  he  made  the 
pride  of  his  life.  The  charm  of  his  character  had  often  caused  people  to  for¬ 
get  his  violence,  which  he  himself  no  longer  remembered  the  next  day. 

The  magistrate’s  mind  understood  and  appreciated  the  great  natural¬ 
ist’s  genius.  Diderot  felt  in  his  own  fashion  the  charm  of  nature,  but,  as  was 
said  by  Chevalier  Chastellux,  “  his  ideas  got  drunk  and  set  to  work  chasing 
one  another.”  The  ideas  of  Buffon,  on  the  other  hand,  came  out  in  the  ma- 
jesti  corder  of  a  system  under  powerful  organization  and  informed  as  it  were 
with  the  very  secrets  of  the  Creator. 

It  was  in  his  dignified  and  studious  retirement  at  Montbard  that  Buffon, 
after  having  transformed  and  almost  created  the  Paris  Jardin  du  Roi,  quietly 
passed  his  long  life.  Born  in  1707,  he  died  on  the  14th  of  April,  1788.  “  I 

dedicated,”  he  says,  “twelve,  nay,  fourteen,  hours  to  study;  it  was  my  whole 
pleasure.  In  truth,  I  devoted  myself  to  it  far  more  than  I  troubled  myself 
about  fame;  fame  comes  afterward,  if  it  may,  and  it  nearly  always  does.” 

Buffon  did  not  lack  fame;  on  the  appearance  of  the  first  three  volumes 
of  his  Histoire  naturelle ,  published  in  1749,  the  breadth  of  his  views,  the  beauty 
of  his  language  and  the  strength  of  his  mind  excited  general  curiosity  and  admi¬ 
ration.  The  Sorbonne  was  in  a  flutter  at  certain  bold  propositions;  Buffon, 
without  being  disconcerted,  took  pains  to  avoid  condemnation.  Despite 
certain  boldnesses  which  had  caused  anxiety,  the  Sorbonne  had  reason  to 
compliment  the  great  naturalist.  The  unity  of  the  human  race  as  well  as  its 
superior  dignity  were  already  vindicated  in  these  first  efforts  of  Buffon’s 
genius,  and  his  mind  never  lost  sight  of  this  great  verity.  He  continued 


244 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


[1748 


his  work,  adroitly  availing  himself  of  the  talent  and  researches  of  the  numer¬ 
ous  co-operators  whom  he  had  managed  to  gather  about  him,  directing  them 
all  with  indefatigable  vigilance  in  their  labors  and  their  observations.  “  Genius 
is  but  a  greater  aptitude  for  perseverance,”  he  used  to  say,  himself  justifying 
his  definition  by  the  assiduity  of  his  studies. 

Some  of  Buffon’s  theories  have  been  disputed  by  his  successors’  science ; 
as  D’Alembert  said  of  Descartes:  “If  he  was  mistaken  about  the  laws  of 
motion,  he  was  the  first  to  divine  that  there  must  be  some.”  Buffon  divined 
the  epochs  of  nature,  and  by  the  intuition  of  his  genius,  absolutely  unshackled 
by  any  religious  prejudice,  he  involuntarily  reverted  to  the  account  given  in 
Genesis  :  “  We  are  persuaded,”  he  says,  “  independently  of  the  authority  of  the 
sacred  books,  that  man  was  created  last,  and  that  he  only  came  to  wield  the 
scepter  of  the  earth  when  that  earth  was  found  worthy  of  his  sway.” 

Buffon  was  still  working  at  eighty  years  of  age ;  he  had  undertaken  a  dis¬ 
sertation  on  style,  a  development  of  his  splendid  reception-speech  at  the 
French  Academy.  Great  sorrows  had  crossed  his  life  ;  married  late  to  a 
young  wife  whom  he  loved,  he  lost  her  early  ;  she  left  him  a  son,  brought  up 
under  his  wing  and  the  object  of  his  constant  solicitude. 

When  the  young  Count  de  Buffon,  an  officer  in  the  artillery  and  at  first 
warmly  favorable  to  the  noble  professions  of  the  French  Revolution,  had,  like 
his  peers,  to  mount  the  scaffold  of  the  Terror,  he  damned  with  one  word  the 
judges  who  profaned  in  his  person  his  father’s  glory.  “  Citizens,”  he  exclaim¬ 
ed  from  the  fatal  car,  “my  name  is  Buffon.”  With  less  respect  for  the  rights 
of  genius  than  was  shown  by  the  Algerian  pirates  who  let  pass,  without  open¬ 
ing  them,  the  chests  directed  to  the  great  naturalist,  the  executioner  of  the 
committee  of  public  safety  cut  off  his  son’s  head. 

“How  many  great  men  do  you  reckon ?”  Buffon  was  asked  one  day. 
“  Five,”  answered  he  at  once:  “Newton,  Bacon,  Leibnitz,  Montesquieu  and 
myself.” 

This  self-appreciation,  fostered  by  the  homage  of  his  contemporaries, 
which  showed  itself  in  Buffon  undisguisedly  with  an  air  of  ingenuous  satisfac¬ 
tion,  had  poisoned  a  life  already  extinguished  ten  years  before  amid  the 
bitterest  agonies.  Taking  up  arms  against  a  society  in  which  he  had  not 
found  his  proper  place,  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  (born  at  Geneva,  28th  of  June, 
1712)  had  attacked  the  present  as  well  as  the  past,  the  Encyclopedists  as  well 
as  the  old  social  organization.  It  was  from  the  first  his  distinctive  trait  to 
voluntarily  create  a  desert  around  him.  The  eighteenth  century  was  in  its 
nature  easily  seduced  ;  liberal,  generous  and  open  to  allurements,  it  delighted 
in  intellectual  contentions,  even  the  most  dangerous  and  the  most  daring;  it 
welcomed  with  alacrity  all  those  who  thus  contributed  to  its  pleasures.  The 
charming  drawing-rooms  of  Madame  Geoffrin,  of  Madame  du  Deffand,  of 
Mdlle.  Lespinasse,  belonged  of  right  to  philosophy.  Rousseau  never  took  his 
place  in  this  circle ;  in  this  society  he  marched  in  front  like  a  pioneer  of  new 
times,  attacking  tentatively  all  that  he  encountered  on  his  way.  “  Nobody 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


1/74] 


245 


was  ever  at  one  and  the  same  time  more  factious  and  more  dictatorial,”  is 
the  clever  dictum  of  M.  St.  Marc  Girardin. 

In  his  Discours  sur  les  Sciences  et  les  Arts ,  Rousseau  showed  the 
characteristic  which  invariably  distinguished  him  from  the  philosophers, 
and  which  ended  by  establishing  deep  enmity  between  them  and  him ; 
the  eighteenth  century  espied  certain  evils,  certain  sores  in  the  social 
and  political  condition,  believed  in  a  cure  and  blindly  relied  on  the 
power  of  its  own  theories.  Rousseau,  more  earnest,  often  more  sincere, 
made  a  better  diagnosis  of  the  complaint,  he  described  its  horrible  character 
and  the  dangerousness  of  it,  he  saw  no  remedy  and  he  pointed  none 
out.  Profound  and  grievous  impotence,  whose  utmost  hope  is  an  impos¬ 
sible  recurrence  to  the  primitive  state  of  savagery! 

Before  Rousseau,  and  better  than  he,  Christianity  had  recognized  and 
proclaimed  the  evil ;  but  it  had,  at  the  same  time,  announced  to  the 
world  a  remedy  and  a  Saviour. 

Henceforth  Rousseau  had  chosen  his  own  road:  giving  up  the  drawing¬ 
rooms  and  the  habits  of  that  elegant  society  for  which  he  was  not 
born  and  the  admiration  of  which  had  developed  his  pride,  he  made 
up  his  mind  to  live  independent,  copying  music  to  get  his  bread,  now 
and  then  smitten  with  the  women  of  the  world  who  sought  him  out 
in  his  retirement,  in  love  with  Madame  d’Epinay  and  Madame  d’Houdetot, 
anon  returning  to  the  coarse  servant-wench  whom  he  had  but  lately 
made  his  wife  and  whose  children  he  had  put  in  the  foundling-hospital. 
Music  at  that  time  absorbed  all  minds:  Rousseau  brought  out  a  little 
opera  entitled  Le  Devin  de  village  ( The  Village  Wizard ),  which  had  a 
great  success.  It  was  played  at  Fontainebleau  before  the  king.  The 
emotions  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  vivid  and  easily  roused  ;  fastening 
upon  everything  without  any  earnest  purpose  and  without  any  great 

sense  of  responsibility  it  grew  as  hot  over  a  musical  dispute  as  over 

the  gravest  questions  of  morality  or  philosophy. 

The  singularity  of  his  paradox  had  worn  off ;  Rousseau  no  longer 
astounded,  he  shocked  the  good  sense  as  well  as  the  aspirations,  super¬ 
ficial  or  generous,  of  the  eighteenth  century:  the  Discours  sur  /’ Inegalitl 
dcs  conditions  was  not  a  success.  It  was  at  the  Hermitage,  under  Madame 
d’Epinay ’s  roof,  that  he  began  the  tale  of  La  Nouvelle  Heloise ,  which 
was  finished  at  Marshal  de  Montmorency’s,  when  the  susceptible  and  cranky 
temper  of  the  philosopher  had  justified  the  malevolent  predictions  of 
Grimm. 

Rousseau  quarreled  with  Madame  d’Epinay,  and  shortly  afterward 
with  all  the  philosophical  circle:  Grimm,  Helvetius,  D’Holbach,  Diderot; 

his  quarrels  with  the  last  were  already  of  old  date,  they  had  made  some 

noise.  The  rupture  was  at  last  complete,  it  extended  to  Grimm  as  well 
as  to  Diderot.  “Nobody  can  put  himself  in  my  place,”  wrote  Rousseau, 
“  and  nobody  will  see  that  I  am  a  being  apart,  who  has  not  the 


246  FRANCE.— LITERATURE.  [1748 

character,  the  maxims,  the  resources  of  the  rest  of  them,  and  who  must 
not  be  judged  by  their  rules.” 

Rousseau  was  right :  he  was  a  being  apart ;  and  the  philosophers 
could  not  forgive  him  for  his  independence.  His  merits  as  well  as  his 
defects  annoyed  them  equally :  his  Lettre  contre  les  Spectacles  had  exasper¬ 
ated  Voltaire ;  isolated  henceforth  by  the  good  as  well  as  by  the  evil 
tendencies  of  his  nature,  Jean  Jacques  stood  alone  against  the  philosoph¬ 
ical  circle  as  well  as  against  the  Protestant  or  Catholic  clergy  whose 
creed  he  often  offended.  He  had  just  published  Le  Contrat  Social ; 
“The  Gospel,”  says  M.  Saint-Marc  Girardin,  “of  the  theory  as  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  State  representing  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.” 
The  book  had  barely  begun  to  appear,  when,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1762, 

Rousseau  was  awakened  by  a  message  from  La  Marechale  de  Luxembourg: 

/ 

the  parliament  had  ordered  Emile  to  be  burned  and  its  author  arrested. 
Rousseau  took  flight,  reckoning  upon  finding  refuge  at  Geneva.  The  influ¬ 
ence  of  the  French  government  pursued  him  thither ;  the  grand  council  con¬ 
demned  Emile .  One  single  copy  had  arrived  at  Geneva :  it  was  this  which 
was  burned  by  the  hand  of  the  common  hangman,  nine  days  after  the 
burning  at  Paris  in  the  Place  de  Greve.  “  The  Contrat  Social  has  received 
its  whipping  on  the  back  of  Emile C  was  the  saying  at  Geneva.  “  At 
the  instigation  of  M.  de  Voltaire  they  have  avenged  upon  me  the  cause 
of  God,”  Jean  Jacques  declared. 

Rousseau  rashly  put  his  name  to  his  books  ;  Voltaire  was  more 
prudent.  One  day,  having  been  imprisoned  for  some  verses  which  were 
not  his,  he  had  taken  the  resolution  to  imprudently  repudiate  the  paternity 
of  his  own  works:  “You  must  never  publish  anything  under  your  own 
name,”  he  wrote  to  Helvetius ;  “La  Pncelle  was  none  of.  my  doing,  of 
course.  Master  Joly  de  Fleury  will  make  a  fine  thing  of  his  requisition  ; 
I  shall  tell  him  that  he  is  a  calumniator,  that  La  Pncelle  is  his  own  doing, 
which  he  wants  to  put  down  to  me  out  of  spite.” 

Rousseau  died  at  the  pavilion  of  Ermenonville,  which  had  been 
offered  to  him  by  M.  de  Girardin ;  he  died  there  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
six,  sinking  even  more  beneath  imaginary  woes  than  under  the  real 
sorrows  and  bitter  deceptions  of  his  life.  The  disproportion  between 
his  intellect  and  his  character,  between  the  boundless  pride  and  the 

impassioned  weakness  of  his  spirit,  had  little  by  little  estranged  his 

friends  and  worn  out  the  admiration  of  his  contemporaries.  By  his  writings 
Rousseau  acted  more  powerfully  upon  posterity  than  upon  his  own  times : 
his  personality  had  ceased  to  do  his  genius  injustice. 

He  belonged  moreover  and  by  anticipation  to  a  new  era;  from  the 
restless  working  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  from  his  moral  and  political 

tendencies,  he  was  no  longer  of  the  eighteenth  century  properly  speaking, 
though  the  majority  of  the  philosophers  out-lived  him ;  his  work  was 

not  their  work,  their  world  was  never  his.  He  had  attempted  a  noble 
reaction,  but  one  which  was  fundamentally  and  in  reality  impossible. 


1 774] 


FRANCE.— LITERATURE. 


247 


The  impress  of  his  early  education  had  never  been  thoroughly  effaced : 
he  believed  in  God,  he  had  been  nurtured  upon  the  Gospel  in  child¬ 
hood,  he  admired  the  morality  and  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ;  but  he 
stopped  at  the  boundaries  of  adoration  and  submission.  Against  the 
systematic- infidelity  which  was  more  and  more  creeping  over  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  Christian  faith  alone,  with  all  its  forces,  could  fight  and 
triumph.  But  the  Christian  faith  was  obscured  and  enfeebled,  it  clung 
to  the  vessel’s  rigging  instead  of  defending  its  powerful  hull ;  the  flood 
was  rising  meanwhile,  and  the  dikes  were  breaking  one  after  another. 
The  religious  belief  of  the  Savoyard  vicar,  imperfect  and  inconsistent,, 
such  as  it  is  set  forth  in  Emile ,  and  that  sincere  love  of  nature  which 
was  recovered  by  Rousseau  in  his  solitude,  remained  powerless  to  guide 
the  soul  and  regulate  life. 

“The  eighteenth  century”  [M.  Guizot,  Melanges  biographiques  :  (Madame 
la  Comtesse  de  Rumford)  ],  was  far  superior  to  all  its  skeptics,  to  all  its  cynics. 
What  do  I  say?  Superior?  Nay,  it  was  essentially  opposed  to  them  and 
continually  gave  them  the  lie.  Despite  the  weakness  of  its  morals,  the  frivol¬ 
ity  of  its  forms,  the  mere  dry  bones  of  such  and  such  of  its  doctrines,  despite 
its  critical  and  destructive  tendency,  it  was  an  ardent  and  a  sincere  century, 
a  century  of  faith  and  disinterestedness'.  It  had  faith  in  the  truth,  for  it 
claimed  the  right  thereof  to  reign  in  this  world.  It  had  faith  in  humanity, 
for  it  recognized  the  right  thereof  to  perfect  itself,  and  would  have  had  that 
right  exercised  without  obstruction.  It  erred,  it  lost  itself  amid  this  twofold 
confidence;  it  attempted  what  was  far  beyond  its  right  and  power;  it  mis¬ 
judged  the  moral  nature  of  man  and  the  conditions  of  the  social  state.  Its 
ideas  as  well  as  its  works  contracted  the  blemish  of  its  views.  But,  granted 
so  much,  the  original  idea,  dominant  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  belief  that 
man,  truth  and  society  are  made  for  one  another,  worthy  of  one  another  and 
called  upon  to  form  a  union,  this  correct  and  salutary  belief  rises  up  and  over¬ 
tops  all  its  history.  That  belief  it  was  the  first  to  proclaim  and  would  fain 
have  realized.  Hence  its  power  and  its  popularity  over  the  whole  face  of  the 
earth.  Hence,  also,  to  descend  from  great  things  to  small,  and  from  the 
destiny  of  man  to  that  of  the  drawing-room,  hence  the  seductiveness  of  that 
epoch  and  the  charm  it  scattered  over  social  life.  Never  before  were  seen  all 
the  conditions,  all  the  classes  that  form  the  flower  of  a  great  people,  however 
diverse  they  might  have  been  in  their  history  and  still  were  in  their  interests, 
thus  forgetting  their  past,  their  personality,  in  order  to  draw  near  to  one 
another,  to  unite  in  a  communion  of  the  sweetest  manners  and  solely  occu¬ 
pied  in  pleasing  one  another,  in  rejoicing  and  hoping  together  during  fifty 
years  which  were  to  end  in  the  most  terrible  conflicts  between  them.” 

At  the  death  of  King  Louis  XV.,  in  1774,  the  easy-mannered  joyance, 
the  peaceful  and  brilliant  charm  of  -fashionable  and  philosophical  society  were 
reaching  their  end:  the  time  of  stern  realities  was  approaching  with  long 
strides. 


XV. 


LOUS  ITI.  -INTERNAL  POLIGY-FRANCE  Ai  AMERICA. 


(1775-1789.) 


T  the  news  that  Louis  XV.  had  just  heaved  his  last  sigh 
in  the  arms  of  his  pious  daughters,  Louis  XVI.  and 
Marie  Antoinette  both  flung  themselves  upon  their 
knees,  exclaiming,  “  O  God,  protect  us,  direct  us,  we 
are  too  young.” 

The  monarch’s  youth  did  not  scare  the  country, 
itself  everywhere  animated  and  excited  by  a  breath  of 
youth.  There  were  congratulations  on  escaping  from  the  well-known 
troubles  of  a  regency ;  the  king’s  ingenuous  inexperience,  more¬ 
over,  opened  a  vast  field  for  the  most  contradictory  hopes.  The 
philosophers  counted  upon  taking  possession  of  the  mind  of  a  good 
young  sovereign,  who  was  said  to  have  his  heart  set  upon  his  peo¬ 
ple’s  happiness;  the  clergy  and  the  Jesuits  themselves  expected 
everything  from  the  young  prince’s  pious  education  ;  the  old 
parliaments,  mutilated,  crushed  down,  began  to  raise  up  their  heads 
again,  while  the  economists  were  already  preparing  their  most  daring  projects. 
The  painters,  the  sculptors  and  the  architects  of  France  were  sufficient  for 
her  glory;  only  Gretry  and  Monsigoy  upheld  the  honor  of  that  French  music 
which  was  attacked  by  Grimm  and  by  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  ;  but  it  was  at 
Paris  that  the  great  quarrel  went  on  between  the  Italians  and  the  Germans. 
Piccini  and  Gluck  divided  society,  wherein  their  rivalry  excited  violent 
passions.  Everywhere  and  on  all  questions,  intellectual  movement  was 
becoming  animated  with  fresh  ardor  ,  France  was  marching  toward  the  region 
of  storms,  in  the  blindness  of  her  confidence  and  joyance ;  the  atmosphere 
seemed  purer  since  Madame  Dubarry  had  been  sent  to  a  convent  by  one  of 
the  first  orders  of  young  Louis  XVI. 

Already,  however,  farseeing  spirits  were  disquieted  :  scarcely  had  he 
mounted  the  throne,  when  the  king  summoned  to  his  side,  as  his  minister, 
M.  de  Maurepas,  but  lately  banished  by  Louis  XV.,  in  1749,  on  a  charge  of 
having  tolerated,  if  not  himself  written,  songs  disrespectful  toward  Madame 
de  Pompadour  ;  in  the  place  of  the  duke  of  Aiguillon,  who  had  the  ministry 
of  war  and  that  of  foreign  affairs  both  together,  the  count  of  Muy  and  the 
count  of  Vergennes  were  called  to  power.  Some  weeks  later,  the  obscure 
minister  of  marine,  M.  de  Boynes,  made  way  for  the  superintendent  of  the 
district  (g<fnfralitt)  of  Limoges,  M.  Turgot. 


178  9] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


249 


Intimately  connected  with  the  most  esteemed  magistrates  and  econo¬ 
mists,  such  as  MM.  Trudaine,  Quesnay,  and  Gournay,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  was  writing  in  the  Encyclopedia ,  and  constantly  occupied  in  useful  work, 
Turgot  was  not  yet  five-and-thirty  when  he  was  appointed  superintendent  of 
the  district  of  Limoges.  There,  the  rare  faculties  of  his  mind  and  his 
sincere  love  of  good  found  their  natural  field  ;  the  country  was  poor,  crushed 
under  imposts,  badly  intersected  by  roads  badly  kept,  inhabited  by  an  igno¬ 
rant  populace,  violently  hostile  to  the  recruitment  of  the  militia.  He 
encouraged  agriculture,  distributed  the  talliages  more  equitably,  amended 
the  old  roads  and  constructed  new  ones,  abolished  forced  labor  ( corvees ), 
provided  for  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  wretched  during  the  dearth  of  1 770 
and  1771,  and  declined,  successively,  the  superintendentship  of  Rouen,  of 
Lyons,  and  of  Bordeaux,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  complete  the  use¬ 
ful  tasks  he  had  begun  at  Limoges.  It  was  from  that  district  that  he  was 
called  to  a  seat  in  the  new  cabinet.  Scarcely  had  he  been  installed  in  the 
department  of  marine,  and  begun  to  conceive  vast  plans,  when  the  late 
ministers  of  Louis  XV.  succumbed  at  last  beneath  the  popular  hatred  ;  in 
the  place  of  Abbe  Terray,  M.  Turgot  became  comptroller-general. 

The  old  parliamentarians  were  triumphant  ;  at  the  same  time  as  Abbe 
Terray,  Chancellor  Maupeou  was  disgraced,  and  the  judicial  system  he  had 
founded  fell  with  him.  Unpopular  from  the  first,  the  Maupeou  parliament 
had  remained  in  the  nation’s  eyes  the  image  of  absolute  power  corrupted  and 
corrupting.  The  suit  between  Beaumarchais  and  Councillor  Goezman  had 
contributed  to  decry  it,  thanks  to  the  uproar  the  able  pamphleteer  had 
managed  to  cause  ;  the  families  of  the  former  magistrates  were  powerful, 
numerous,  esteemed,  and  they  put  pressure  upon  public  opinion.  Imper¬ 
turbable  and  haughty  as  ever,  Maupeou  retired  to  his  estate  at  Thuit,  near 
the  Andelys,  where  he  drew  up  a  justificatory  memorandum  of  his  ministry, 
which  he  had  put  into  the  king’s  hands,  without  ever  attempting  to  enter  the 
court  or  Paris  again  ;  he  died  in  the  country,  at  the  outset  of  the  revolution¬ 
ary  storms,  on  the  29th  of  July,  1792,  just  as  he  had  made  the  State  a  patri¬ 
otic  present  of  eight  hundred  thousand  livres.  At  the  moment  when  the 
populace  were  burning  him  in  effigy  in  the  streets  of  Paris  together  with  Abbe 
Terray,  when  he  saw  the  recall  of  the  parliamentarians,  and  the  work  of  his 
whole  life  destroyed,  he  repeated  with  his  usual  coolness  :  “  If  the  king  is 
pleased  to  lose  his  kingdom — well,  he  is  master.” 

Abbe  Terray  had  been  less  proud,  and  was  more  harshly  treated.  It  was 
in  vain  that  he  sought  to  dazzle  the  young  king  with  ably  prepared  memo¬ 
rials  ;  he  had  to  refund  nearly  nine  hundred  thousand  livres  to  the  public 
treasury.  Being  recognized  by  the  mob  as  he  was  passing  over  the  Seine  in  a 
ferry  boat,  he  had  some  difficulty  in  escaping  from  the  hands  of  those  who 
would  have  hurled  him  into  the  river. 

After  his  first  interview  with  the  king,  at  Compiegne,  M.  Turgot  wrote 
to  Louis  XVI.  : — “  Your  Majesty  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  permit  me 
to  place  before  your  eyes  the  engagement  you  took  upon  yourself,  to  support 


250 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 


me  in  the  execution  of  plans  of  economy  which  are  at  all  times,  and  now 
more  than  ever,  indispensable.  I  confine  myself  for  the  moment,  sir,  to 
reminding  you  of  these  three  expressions  : — First  degree,  No  bankruptcies  ; 
Second  degree,  No  augmentation  of  imposts;  Third  degree,  No  loans.”  M. 
Turgot  set  to  work  at  once.  While  governing  his  district  of  Limoges,  he 
had  matured  numerous  plans  and  shaped  extensive  theories.  He  belonged 
to  his  times  and  to  the  school  of  the  philosophers  as  regarded  his  contempt 
for  tradition  and  history ;  it  was  to  natural  rights  alone,  to  the  innate  and 
primitive  requirements  of  mankind  that  he  traced  back  his  principles  and 
referred  as  the  basis  for  all  his  attempts. 

Two  fundamental  principles  regulated  the  financial  system  of  M.  Turgot, 
economy  in  expenditure  and  freedom  in  trade ;  everywhere  he  ferreted  out 
abuses,  abolishing  useless  offices  and  payments,  exacting  from  the  entire 
administration  that  strict  probity  of  which  he  set  the  example.  Louis  XVI. 
supported  him  conscientiously  at  that  time  in  all  his  reforms  :  the  public 
made  fun  of  it.  It  was  on  account  of  his  financial  innovations  that  the  comp¬ 
troller-general  particularly  dreaded  the  return  of  the  old  parliament  with 
which  he  saw  himself  threatened  every  day.  On  the  12th  of  November, 
1774,  the  old  parliament  was  formally  restored,  subjected,  however,  to 
the  same  jurisdiction  which  had  controlled  the  Maupeou  parliament.  The 
latter  had  been  sent  to  Versailles  to  form  a  grand  council  there.  The  re¬ 
stored  magistrates  grumbled  at  the  narrow  limits  imposed  upon  their 
authority  ;  the  duke  of  Orleans,  the  duke  of  Chartres,  the  prince  of  Conti 
supported  their  complaints  ;  it  was  in  vain  that  the  king  for  some  time  met 
them  with  refusals  ;  threats  soon  gave  place  to  concessions;  and  the  parlia¬ 
ments  everywhere  reconstituted,  enfeebled  in  the  eyes  of  public  opinion,  but 
more  than  ever  obstinate  and  Fronde-like,  found  themselves  free  to  harass, 
without  doing  any  good,  the  march  of  an  administration  becoming  every  day 
more  difficult. 

M.  Turgot,  meanwhile,  was  continuing  his  labors,  preparing  a  project 
for  equitable  redistribution  of  the  talliage  and  his  grand  system  of  a  gradu¬ 
ated  scale  ( Jiierarchie )  of  municipal  assemblies,  commencing  with  the  parish, 
to  culminate  in  a  general  meeting  of  delegates  from  each  province  ;  he 
threatened,  in  the  course  of  his  reforms,  the  privileges  of  the  noblesse  and  of 
the  clergy,  and  gave  his  mind  anxiously  to  the  instruction  of  the  people, 
whose  condition  and  welfare  he  wanted  to  simultaneously  elevate  and 
augment  ;  already  there  was  a  buzz  of  murmurs  against  him,  confined  as  yet 
to  the  courtiers,  when  the  dearness  of  bread  and  the  distress  which  ensued  in 
the  spring  of  1775  furnished  his  adversaries  with  a  convenient  pretext.  Up 
to  that  time  the  attacks  had  been  cautious  and  purely  theoretical.  M.  Necker, 
an  able  banker  from  Geneva,  for  a  long  while  settled  in  Paris,  hand  and  glove 
with  the  philosophers,  and  keeping  up,  moreover,  a  great  establishment,  had 
brought  to  the  comptroller-general  a  work  which  he  had  just  finished  on  the 
trade  in  grain  ;  on  many  points  he  did  not  share  M.  Turgot’s  opinions.  “  Be 
kind  enough  to  ascertain  for  yourself,”  said  the  banker  to  the  minister, 


1779] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


251 


“whether  the  book  can  be  published  without  inconvenience  to  the  govern¬ 
ment.”  M.  Turgot  was  proud  and  sometimes  rude  :  “  Publish,  sir,  publish,” 
said  he,  without  offering  his  hand  to  take  the  manuscript,  “  the  public  shall 
decide.”  M.  Necker,  out  of  pique,  published  his  book  ;  it  had  an  immense 
sale ;  other  pamphlets,  more  violent  and  less  solid,  had  already  appeared  ;  at 
the  same  moment  a  riot,  which  seemed  to  have  been  planned  and  to  be  under 
certain  guidance,  broke  out  in  several  parts  of  France.  Drunken  men 
shouted  about  the  public  thoroughfares,  “  Bread  !  cheap  bread  !  ” 

Serious  damage  was  done  throughout  France  to  property,  and  even  to 
provisions  ;  barns  were  burnt,  farm-houses  plundered,  wheat  thrown  into  the 
river,  and  sacks  of  flour  ripped  to  pieces  before  the  king’s  eyes  at  Versailles. 
At  last  the  troubles  began  to  subside,  and  the  merchants  recovered  their 
spirits;  M.  Turgot  had  at  once  sent  fifty  thousand  francs  to  a  trader  whom 
the  rioters  had  robbed  of  a  boat  full  of  wheat  which  they  had  flung  into  the 
river ;  two  of  the  insurgents  were  at  the  same  time  hanged  at  Paris  on  a 
gallows  forty  feet  high,  and  a  notice  was  sent  to  the  parish-priests,  which  they 
were  to  read  from  the  pulpit  in  order  to  enlighten  the  people  as  to  the  folly 
of  such  outbreaks,  and  as  to  the  conditions  of  the  trade  in  grain. 

Severities  were  hateful  to  the  king;  he  had  misjudged  his  own  character, 
when,  at  the  outset  of  his  reign,  he  had  desired  the  appellation  of  Louis  le 
Severe.  “  Have  we  nothing  to  reproach  ourselves  with  in  these  measures  ?  ” 
he  was  incessantly  asking  M.  Turgot,  who  was  as  conscientious,  but  more 
resolute,  than  his. master.  An  amnesty  preceded  the  coronation,  which  was 
to  take  place  at  Reims  on  the  nth  of  June,  1775. 

A  grave  question  presented  itself  as  regarded  the  king’s  oath  :  should  he 
swear,  as  the  majority  of  his  predecessors  had  sworn,  to  exterminate 
heretics?  M.  Turgot  had  aroused  Louis  XVI.’s  scruples  upon  this  subject  : 
“  Tolerance  ought  to  appear  expedient  in  point  of  policy  for  even  an  infidel 
prince,”  he  said ;  “  but  it  ought  to  be  regarded  as  a  sacred  duty  for  a  religious 
prince.”  The  clergy,  scared  by  the  minister’s  liberal  tendencies,  reiterated 
their  appeals  to  the  king  against  the  liberties  tacitly  accorded  to  Protestants. 
t(  Finish,”  they  said  to  Louis  XVI.,  “the  work  which  Louis  the  Great  began, 
and  which  Louis  the  Well-beloved  continued.”  The  king  answered  with 
vague  assurances  ;  already  MM.  Turgot  and  de  Malesherbes  were  entertaining 
him  with  a  project  which  conceded  to  Protestants  the  civil  status. 

M.  de  Malesherbes,  indeed,  had  been  for  some  months  past  seconding  his 
friend  in  the  weighty  task  which  the  latter  had  undertaken.  Called  to  the 
ministry  in  the  place  of  the  duke  of  La  Vrilliere,  his  first  care  was  to  protest 
against  the  sealed  letters  ( lettres  de  cachet — summary  arrest),  the  application 
whereof  he  was  for  putting  in  the  hands  of  a  special  tribunal  ;  he  visited  the 
Bastile,  releasing  the  prisoners  confined  on  simple  suspicion.  He  had  already 
dared  to  advise  the  king  to  a  convocation  of  the  States-general. 

Almost  the  whole  ministry  was  in  the  hands  of  reformers  ;  a  sincere 
desire  to  do  good  impelled  the  king  toward  those  who  promised  him  the 
happiness  of  his  people.  The  Count  de  St.  Germain,  who  succeeded  M.  de 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 


Muy  at  the  war-office,  had  conceived  a  thousand  projects  of  reform  ;  he 
wanted  to  apply  them  all  at  once.  He  made  no  sort  of  case  of  the  picked 
corps,  and  suppressed  the  majority  of  them,  thus  irritating,  likewise,  all  the 
privileged.  The  enthusiasm  which  had  been  excited  by  the  new  minister  of 
war  had  disappeared  from  among  the  officers  ;  he  lost  the  hearts  of  the 
soldiers  by  wanting  to  establish  in  the  army  the  corporal  punishments  in  use 
among  the  German  armies  in  which  he  had  served.  The  feeling  was  so 
strong  that  the  attempt  was  abandoned.  Violent  and  weak  both  together, 
in  spite  of  his  real  merit  and  his  genuine  worth,  often  giving  up  wise 
resolutions  out  of  sheer  embarrassment,  he  nearly  always  failed  in  what  he 
undertook;  the  outcries  against  the  reformers  were  increased  thereby;  the 
faults  of  M.  de  St.  Germain  were  put  down  to  M.  Turgot. 

He  had  proposed  to  the  king  six  edicts  ;  two  were  extremely  important ; 
the  first  abolished  jurorships  (jurandes)  and  masterships  ( maitrises )  among 
the  workmen  :  “  The  king,”  said  the  preamble,  “  wishes  to  secure  to  all  his 
subjects,  and  especially  to  the  humblest,  to  those  who  have  no  property  but 
their  labor  and  their  industry,  the  full  and  entire  enjoyment  of  their  rights, 
and  to  reform,  consequently,  the  institutions  which  strike  at  those  rights,  and 
which,  in  spite  of  their  antiquity,  have  failed  to  be  legalized  by  time,  opinion 
and  even  the  acts  of  authority.”  The  second  substituted  for  forced  labor  on 
roads  and  highways  an  impost  to  which  all  proprietors  were  equally  liable. 

This  was  the  first  step  toward  equal  redistribution  of  taxes ;  great  was 
the  explosion  of  disquietude  and  wrath  on  the  part  of  the  privileged ;  it 
showed  itself  first  in  the  council,  by  the  mouth  of  M.  de  Miromesnil  ;  Turgot 
sprang  up  with  animation.  “  The  keeper  of  the  seals,”  he  said,  “  seems  to 
adopt  the  principle  that,  by  the  constitution  of  the  State,  the  noblesse  ought 
to  be  exempt  from  all  taxation.  This  idea  will  appear  a  paradox  to  the 
majority  of  the  nation.  The  commoners  ( roturiers )  are  certainly  the  greatest 
number,  and  we  are  no  longer  in  the  days  when  their  voices  did  not  count.” 
The  king  listened  to  the  discussion  in  silence.  “  Come,”  he  exclaimed 
abruptly,  “  I  see  that  there  are  only  M.  Turgot  and  I  here  who  love  the 
people,”  and  he  signed  the  edicts. 

The  comptroller-general  was  triumphant  ;  but  his  victory  was  but  the 
prelude  to  his  fall.  Too  many  enemies  were  leagued  against  him,  irritated 
both  by  the  noblest  qualities  of  his  character,  and  at  the  same  time  by  the 
natural  defects  of  his  manners.  He  fought  single-handed.  M.  de  Male- 
sherbes,  firm  as  a  rock  at  the  head  of  the  Court  of  Aids,  supported  as  he 
was  by  the  traditions  and  corporate  feeling  of  the  magistracy,  had  shown 
weakness  as.  a  minister.  The  two  friends  fell  together.  M.  Turgot  had 
espied  the  danger  and  sounded  some  of  the  chasms  just  yawning  beneath  the 
feet  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  the  king  ;  he  committed  the  noble  error  of 
believing  in  the  instant  and  supreme  influence  of  justice  and  reason.  Had  he 
been  longer  in  power,  M.  Turgot  would  still  have  failed  in  his  designs.  The 
life  of  one  man  was  too  short,  and  the  hand  of  one  man  too  weak,  to  modify 
the  course  of  events ;  fruit  slowly  ripened  during  so  many  centuries.  It  was 


1789] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


253 


to  the  honor  of  M.  Turgot  that  he  discerned  the  mischief  and  would  fain 
have  applied  the  proper  remedy.  He  was  often  mistaken  about  the  means, 
oftener  still  about  the  strength  he  had  at  disposal.  He  had  the  good  fortune 
to  die  early,  still  sad  and  anxious  about  the  fate  of  his  country,  without 
having  been  a  witness  of  the  catastrophes  he  had  foreseen  and  of  the 
sufferings  as  well  as  wreckage  through  which  France  must  pass  before  touching 
at  the  haven  he  would  fain  have  opened  to  her. 

The  joy  of  the  courtiers  was  great,  at  Versailles,  when  the  news  arrived 
of  M.  Turgot’s  fall;  the  public  regretted  it  but  little;  the  inflexible  severity 
of  his  principles,  which  he  never  veiled  by  grace  of  manners,  a  certain 
disquietude  occasioned  by  the  chimerical  views  which  were  attributed  to 
him,  had  alienated  many  people  from  him.  His  real  friends  were  in  con¬ 
sternation. 

A  few  months  later  M.  de  St.  Germain  retired  in  his  turn,  not  to  Alsace 
again,  but  to  the  Arsenal  with  forty  thousand  livres  for  pension.  The  first, 
the  great  attempt  at  reform,  had  failed  ;  a  vain  attempt  had  been  made  to 
establish  the  government  on  the  soundest  as  well  as  the  most  moderate 
principles  of  pure  philosophy  ;  at  home  a  new  attempt,  bolder  and  at  the 
same  time  more  practical,  was  soon  about  to  resuscitate  for  awhile  the  hopes 
of  liberal  minds ;  abroad  and  in  a  new  world  there  was  already  a  commence¬ 
ment  of  events  which  were  about  to  bring  to  France  a  revival  of  glory  and  to 
shed  on  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.  a  moment’s  legitimate  and  brilliant 
luster. 

The  Seven  Years’  War  was  ended,  shamefully  and  sadly  for  France;  M. 
de  Choiseul,  who  had  concluded  peace  with  regret  and  a  bitter  pang,  was 
ardently  pursuing  every  means  of  taking  his  revenge.  To  foment  disturb¬ 
ances  between  England  and  her  colonies  appeared  to  him  an  efficacious  and  a 
natural  way  of  gratifying  his  feelings.  “  There  is  great  difficulty  in  governing 
States  in  the  days  in  which  we  live,”  he  wrote  to  M.  Durand,  at  that  time 
French  minister  in  London;  “  still  greater  difficulty  in  governing  those  of 
America ;  and  the  difficulty  approaches  impossibility  as  regards  those  of 
Asia.  I  am  very  much  astonished  that  England,  which  is  but  a  very  small 
spot  in  Europe,  should  hold  dominion  over  more  than  a  third  of  America, 
and  that  her  dominion  should  have  no  other  object  but  that  of  trade.  .  .  . 
As  long  as  the  vast  American  possessions  contribute  no  subsidies  for  the 
support  of  the  mother-country,  private  persons  in  England  will  still  grow 
rich  for  some  time  on  the  trade  with  America,  but  the  State  will  be  undone 
for  want  of  means  to  keep  together  a  too  extended  power ;  if,  on  the 
contrary,  England  proposes  to  establish  imposts  in  her  American  domains, 
when  they  are  more  extensive  and  perhaps  more  populous  than  the  mother- 
country,  when  they  have  fishing,  woods,  navigation,  corn,  iron,  they  will  easily 
part  asunder  from  her,  without  any  fear  of  chastisement,  for  England  could 
not  undertake  a  war  against  them  to  chastise  them.”  He  encouraged  his 
agents  to  keep  him  informed  as  to  the  state  of  feeling  in  America,  welcoming 


254  FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI.  [1775 

and  studying  all  projects,  even  the  most  fantastic,  that  might  be  hostile  to 
England.  (See  American  history.) 

On  the  10th  of  January,  1776,  three  weeks  before  the  declaration  of  inde¬ 
pendence,  M.  de  Vergennes  secretly  remitted  a  million  to  M.  de  Beaumarchais  ; 
two  months  later  the  same  sum  was  entrusted  to  him  in  the  name  of  the  king 
of  Spain.  Beaumarchais  alone  was  to  appear  in  the  affair  and  to  supply  the 
insurgent  Americans  with  arms  and  ammunition.  “You  will  found,”  he  had 
been  told,  “  a  great  commercial  house,  and  you  will  try  to  draw  into  it  the 
money  of  private  individuals ;  the  first  outlay  being  now  provided,  we  shall 
have  no  further  hand  in  it ;  the  affair  would  compromise  the  government  too 
much  in  the  eyes  of  the  English.”  It  was  under  the  style  and  title  of  Rodrigo 
Hortalez  and  Co.  that  the  first  installment  of  supplies,  to  the  extent  of  more 
than  three  millions,  was  forwarded  to  the  Americans ;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  hesitation  of  the  ministry  and  the  rage  of  the  English,  other  installments 
soon  followed.  Beaumarchais  was  henceforth  personally  interested  in  the 
enterprise ;  he  had  commenced  it  from  zeal  for  the  American  cause  and  from 
that  yearning  for  activity  and  initiative  which  characterized  him  even  in  old 
age.  “  I  should  never  have  succeeded  in  fulfilling  my  mission  here  without 
the  indefatigable,  intelligent  and  generous  efforts  of  M.  de  Beaumarchais,” 
wrote  Silas  Deane  to  the  secret  committee  of  Congress:  “the  United  States 
are  more  indebted  to  him,  on  every  account,  than  to  any  other  person  on  this 
side  of  the  ocean.” 

The  hereditary  sentiments  of  Louis  XVI.  and  his  monarchical  principles, 
as  well  as  the  prudent  moderation  of  M.  Turgot,  retarded  at  Paris  the  nego¬ 
tiations  which  caused  so  much  ill-humor  among  the  English,  and  which  Silas 
Deane  and  Franklin  were  endeavoring  to  bring  to  a  satisfactory  issue,  M.  de 
Vergennes  still  preserved,  in  all  diplomatic  relations,  an  apparent  neutrality. 
“  It  is  my  line  [metier),  you  see,  to  be  a  royalist,”  the  emperor  Joseph  II.  had 
said  during  a  visit  he  had  just  paid  to  Paris,  when  he  was  pressed  to  declare 
in  favor  of  the  American  insurgents  ;  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart  the  king  of 
France  was  of  the  same  opinion;  he  had  refused  the  permission  to  serve  in 
America  which  he  had  been  asked  for  by  many  gentlemen  :  some  had  set  off 
without  waiting  for  it  ;  the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  illustrious  of 
them  all,  the  marquis  of  La  Fayette,  was  not  twenty  years  old  when  he  slipped 
away  from  Paris,  leaving  behind  his  young  wife  close  to  her  confinement,  to 
go  and  embark  upon  a  vessel  which  he  had  bought,  and  which,  laden  with 
arms,  awaited  him  in  a  Spanish  port ;  arrested  by  order  of  the  court,  he 
evaded  the  vigilance  of  his  guards;  in  the  month  of  July,  1 7.77,  he  disembarked 
in  America. 

Washington  did  not  like  France,  he  did  not  share  the  hopes  which  some 
of  his  fellow-countrymen  founded  upon  her  aid  ;  he  made  no  case  of  the  young 
volunteers  who  came  to  enroll  themselves  among  the  defenders  of  indepen¬ 
dence  and  whom  Congress  loaded  with  favors.  “  No  bond  but  interest  attaches 
these  men  to  America,”  he  would  say,  “and,  as  for  France,  she  only  lets  us 
get  our  munitions  from  her  because  of  the  benefit  her  commerce  derives  from 


BENJAMIN 

Page 


FRANKLIN. 

254. 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


255 


1789J 

it.”  Prudent,  reserved  and  proud,  Washington  looked  for  America’s  salvation 
to  only  America  herself ;  neither  had  he  foreseen,  nor  did  he  understand  that 
enthusiasm,  as  generous  as  it  is  unreflecting,  which  easily  takes  possession  of 
the  French  nation,  and  of  which  the  United  States  were  just  then  the  object. 
M.  de  La  Fayette  was  the  first  who  managed  to  win  the  general’s  affection  and 
esteem.  A  great  yearning  for  excitement  and  renown,  a  great  zeal  for  new 
ideas  and  a  certain  political  perspicacity  had  impelled  M.  de  La  Fayette  to 
America;  he  showed  himself  courageous,  devoted,  more  judicious  and  more 
able  than  had  been  expected  from  his  youth  and  character.  Washington 
came  to  love  him  as  a  son.  The  great  and  strong  common  sense  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  general  had  enlightened  him  as  to  the  conditions  of  the  contest  he  had 
entered  upon.  He  knew  it  was  a  desperate  one,  he  foresaw  that  it  would  be 
a  long  one  ;  better  than  anybody  he  knew  the  weaknesses  as  well  as  the  merits 
of  the  instruments  which  he  had  at  disposal,  he  had  learned  to  desire  the 
alliance  and  the  aid  of  France.  She  did  not  belie  his  hopes ,  at  the  very 
moment  when  Congress  was  refusing  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  Great 
Britain  as  long  as  a  single  English  soldier  remained  on  American  soil,  rejoic¬ 
ings  and  thanksgivings  were  everywhere  throughout  the  thirteen  colonies 
greeting  the  news  of  the  recognition  by  France  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States;  the  treaties  of  alliance,  a  triumph  of  diplomatic  ability  on  the 
part  of  Franklin  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on  the  6th  of  February,  1778. 

“Assure  the  English  government  of  the  king’s  pacific  intentions,”  M.  de 
Vergennes  had  written  to  the  marquis  of  Noailles,  then  French  ambassador  in 
England.  George  III,  replied  to  these  mocking  assurances  by  recalling  his 
ambassador. 

“Anticipate  your  enemies,”  Franklin  had  said  to  the  ministers  of  Louis 
XVI.,  “act  toward  them  as  they  did  to  you  in  1 75 5  ;  let  your  ships  put  to 
sea  before  any  declaration  of  war  -;  it  will  be  time  to  speak  when  a  French 
squadron  bars  the  passage  of  Admiral  Howe,  who  has  ventured  to  ascend  the 
Delaware.”  The  king’s  natural  straightforwardness  and  timidity  were  equally 
opposed  to  this  bold  project;  he  hesitated  a  long  while;  when  Count 
d’Estaing  at  last,  on  the  13th  of  April,  went  out  of  Toulon  harbor  to  sail  for 
America  with  his  squadron,  it  was  too  late,  'the  English  were  on  their  guard. 

When  the  French  admiral  arrived  in  America,  hostilities  had  commenced 
between  France  and  England,  without  declaration  of  war,  by  the  natural 
pressure  of  circumstances  and  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  two  countries. 
England  fired  the  first  shot  on  the  17th  of  June,  1 778. 

From  the  day  when  the  duke  of  Choiseul  had  been  forced  to  sign  the 
humiliating  treaty  of  1763,  he  had  never  relaxed  in  his  efforts  to  improve  the 
French  navy.  In  the  course  of  ministerial  alternations,  frequently  unfortu¬ 
nate  for  the  work  in  hand,  it  had  nevertheless  been  continued  by  his  success¬ 
ors.  Counts  d’Estaing  and  d’Orvilliers  nobly  maintained  the  honor  of  the 
fleur-de-lys  against  such  men  as  Admiral  Howe  and  Lord  Keppel ;  in  England 
the  commotion  was  great  at  the  news  that  France  and  America  in  arms 
against  her  had  just  been  joined  by  Spain.  Charles  III.  felt  no  sort  of  sym- 


FRANCE— LOUIS  XVI. 


[U75 


256 

pathy  for  a  nascent  republic  ;  he  feared  the  contagion  of  the  example  it  showed 
to  the  Spanish  colonies  ;  he  hesitated  to  plunge  into  the  expenses  of  a  war. 
His  hereditary  hatred  against  England  prevailed  at  last  over  the  dictates  of 
prudence.  He  was  promised,  moreover,  the  assistance  of  France  to  reconquer 
Gibraltar  and  Minorca.  The  king  of  Spain  consented  to  take  part  in  the  war, 
without  however  recognizing  the  independence  of  the  United  States  or  enter¬ 
ing  into  alliance  with  them. 

The  situation  of  England  was  becoming  serious,  she  believed  herself  to 
be  threatened  with  a  terrible  invasion.  As  in  the  days  of  the  Great  Armada, 
“orders  were  given  to  all  functionaries,  civil  and  military,  in  case  of  a  descent 
of  the  enemy,  to  see  to  the  transportation  into  the  interior  and  into  a  place 
of  safety  of  all  horses,  cattle  and  flocks  that  might  happen  to  be  on  the 
coasts.”  “  Sixty-six  allied  ships  of  the  line  plowed  the  Channel,  fifty 
thousand  men,  mustered  in  Normandy,  were  preparing  to  burst  upon  the 
southern  counties.  A  simple  American  corsair,  Paul  Jones,  ravaged  with 
impunity  the  coasts  of  Scotland.  The  powers  of  the  North,  united  with 
Russia  and  Holland,  threatened  to  maintain,  with  arms  in  hand,  the  rights  of 
neutrals,  ignored  by  the  English  admiralty-courts.  Ireland  awaited  only  the 
signal  to  revolt ;  religious  quarrels  were  distracting  Scotland  and  England  ; 
the  authority  of  Lord  North’s  cabinet  was  shaken  in  Parliament  as  well  as 
throughout  the  country,  the  passions  of  the  mob  held  sway  in  London,  and 
among  the  sights  that  might  have  been  witnessed  was  that  of  this  great  city 
given  up  for  nearly  a  week  to  the  populace,  without  anything  that  could  stay 
its  excesses  save  its  own  lassitude  and  its  own  feeling  of  shame.”  [M.  Cornelis 
de  Witt,  Histoire  de  Washington .] 

Misfortune  and  disappointments  are  great  destroyers  of  some  barriers, 
prudent  tact  can  overthrow  others;  Washington  and  the  American  army 
would  but  lately  have  seen  with  suspicion  the  arrival  of  foreign  auxiliaries ; 
in  1780,  transports  of  joy  greeted  the  news  of  their  approach;  M.  de  La 
Fayette,  moreover,  had  been  careful  to  spare  the  American  general  all  painful 
friction.  Count  de  Rochambeau  and  the  French  officers  were  placed  under 
the  orders  of  Washington,  and  the  auxiliary  corps  entirely  at  his  disposal. 
The  delicate  generosity  and  the  disinterestedness  of  the  French  government 
had  sometimes  had  the  effect  of  making  it  neglect  the  national  interests  in  its 
relations  with  the  revolted  colonies  ;  but  it  had  derived  therefrom  a  spirit  of 
conduct  invariably  calculated  to  triumph  over  the  prejudices,  as  well  as  the 
jealous  pride  of  the  Americans. 

“  The  history  of  the  War  of  Independence  is  a  history  of  hopes  deceived,” 
said  Washington.  He  had  conceived  the  idea  of  making  himself  master  of 
New  York  with  the  aid  of  the  French.  The  transport  of  the  troops  had  been 
badly  calculated  ;  Rochambeau  brought  to  Rhode  Island  only  the  first  division 
of  his  army,  five  thousand  men  about,  and  Count  de  Guichen,  whose  squadron 
had  been  relied  upon,  had  just  been  recalled  to  France.  Washington  was 
condemned  to  inaction.  “  Our  position  is  not  sufficiently  brilliant,”  he  wrote 
to  M.  de  La  Fayette,  “to  justify  our  putting  pressure  upon  Count  de  Ro 


# 


s 


1789] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


257 


chambeau  ;  I  shall  continue  our  arrangements,  however,  in  the  hope  of  more 
fortunate  circumstances.”  The  American  army  was  slow  in  getting  organized, 
obliged  as  it  had  been  to  fight  incessantly  and  make  head  against  constantly 
recurring  difficulties  ;  it  was  getting  organized,  however ;  the  example  of  the 
French,  the  discipline  which  prevailed  in  the  auxiliary  corps,  the  good  under¬ 
standing  thenceforth  established  among  the  officers,  helped  Washington  in 
his  difficult  task.  From  the  first  the  superiority  of  the  general  was  admitted 
by  the  French  as  well  as  by  the  Americans;  naturally  and  by  the  mere  fact 
of  the  gifts  he  had  received  from  God,  Washington  was  always  and  everywhere 
chief  of  the  men  placed  within  his  range  and  under  his  influence. 

While  the  United  States  were  celebrating  their  victory  with  thanksgivings 
and  public  festivities,  their  allies  were  triumphing  at  all  the  different  points, 
simultaneously,  at  which  hostilities  had  been  entered  upon.  Becoming  em¬ 
broiled  with  Holland,  where  the  republican  party  had  prevailed  against  the 
stadtholder,  who  was  devoted  to  them,  the  English  had  waged  war  upon  the 
Dutch  colonies.  Admiral  Rodney  had  taken  St.  Eustache,  the  center  of  an 
immense  trade  ;  he  had  pillaged  the  warehouses  and  laden  his  vessels  with  an 
enormous  mass  of  merchandise ;  the  convoy  which  was  conveying  a  part  of 
the  spoil  to  England  was  captured  by  Admiral  La  Motte-Piquet ;  M.  de  Bouille 
surprised  the  English  garrison  remaining  at  St.  Eustache  and  recovered  pos¬ 
session  of  the  island,  which  was  restored  to  the  Dutch.  They  had  just 
maintained  gloriously,  at  Dogger  Bank,  their  old  maritime  renown  :  “  Officers 
and  men  all  fought  like  lions,”  said  Admiral  Zouttman.  The  firing  had  not 
commenced  until  the  two  fleets  were  within  pistol-shot.  The  ships  on  both 
sides  were  dismasted,  scarcely  in  a  condition  to  keep  afloat ;  the  glory  and  the 
losses  were  equal,  but  the  English  admiral,  Hyde  Parker,  was  irritated  and 
displeased;  George  III.  went  to  see  him  on  board  his  vessel:  “I  wish  your 
Majesty  younger  seamen  and  better  ships,”  said  the  old  sailor,  and  he  insisted 
on  resigning.  This  was  the  only  action  fought  by  the  Dutch  during  the  war ; 
they  left  to  Admiral  de  Kersaint  the  job  of  recovering  from  the  English  their 
colonies  of  Demerara,  Essequibo  and  Berbice  on  the  coasts  of  Guiana.  A 
small  Franco-Spanish  army  was  at  the  same  time  besieging  Minorca  ;  the 
fleet  was  considerable,  the  English  were  ill-prepared  ;  they  were  soon  obliged 
to  shut  themselves  up  in  Fort  St.  Philip,  and,  finally,  to  surrender  (February 
4th,  1782). 

As  early  as  1778,  even  before  the  maritime  war  had  burst  out  in  Europe, 
France  had  lost  all  that  remained  of  her  possessions  on  the  Coromandel  coast. 
Pondicherry,  scarcely  risen  from  its  ruins,  was  besieged  by  the  English,  and 
had  capitulated  on  the  17th  of  October,  after  a  heroic  resistance  of  forty 
days’  open  trenches.  Since  that  day  a  Mussulman,  Hyder  Ali,  conqueror  of 
the  Carnatic,  had  struggled  alone  in  India  against  the  power  of  England;  it 
was  around  him  that  a  group  had  been  formed  by  the  old  soldiers  of  Bussy, 
and  by  the  French  who  had  escaped  from  the  disaster  of  Pondicherry.  It  was 
with  their  aid  that  the  able  robber-chief,  the  crafty  politician,  had  defended 
and  consolidated  the  empire  he  had  founded  against  that  foreign  dominion 
17 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 


258 

which  threatened  the  independence  of  his  country.  He  had  just  suffered  a 
series  of  reverses,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  being  forced  to  evacuate  the 
Carnatic,  and  take  refuge  in  his  kingdom  of  Mysore  when  he  heard,  in  the 
month  of  July,  1782,  of  the  arrival  of  a  French  fleet  commanded  by  M.  de 
Suffren.  Hyder  Ali  had  already  been  many  times  disappointed.  The  preced¬ 
ing  year  Admiral  d’Orves  had  appeared  on  the  Coromandel  coast  with  a 
squadron  ;  the  sultan  had  sent  to  meet  him,  urging  him  to  land  and  attack 
Madras,  left  defenseless;  the  admiral  refused  to  risk. a  single  vessel  or  land  a 
single  man,  and  he  returned,  without  striking  a  blow,  to  Ile-de-France.  Ever 
indomitable  and  enterprising,  Hyder  Ali  hoped  better  things  of  the  new¬ 
comers:  he  was  not  deceived.  Six  months,  however,  had  scarcely  elapsed 
when  he  died,  leaving  to  his  son  Tippoo  Sahib  affairs  embroiled  and  allies  en¬ 
feebled.  At  this  news  the  Mahrattas,  in  revolt  against  England,  hastened  to 
make  peace,  and  Tippoo  Sahib,  who  had  just  seized  Tanjore,  was  obliged  to 
abandon  his  conquest,  and  go  to  the  protection  of  Malabar.  Ten  thousand 
men  only  remained  in  the  Carnatic  to  back  the  little  corps  of  French;  these 
had  resumed  the  offensive  and  were  preparing  to  make  fresh  sallies,  when  it 
was  known  at  Calcutta  that  the  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  signed  at 
Paris  on  the  9th  of  February.  The  English  immediately  proposed  an  armis¬ 
tice.  The  Surveillante  shortly  afterward  brought  the  same  news,  with  orders 
for  Suffren  to  return  to  France.  India  was  definitively  given  up  to  the 
English,  who  restored  to  the  French  Pondicherry,  Chandernugger,  Mahe  and 
Karikal,  the  last  strips  remaining*  of  that  French  dominion  which  had  for  a 
while  been  triumphant  throughout  the  Peninsula.  The  feebleness  and  the 
vices  of  Louis  XV. ’s  government  weighed  heavily  upon  the  government  of 
Louis  XVI.  in  India  as  well  as  in  France,  and  at  Paris  itself. 

It  is  to  the  honor  of  mankind  and  their  consolation  under  great  reverses 
that  political  checks  and  the  inutility  of  their  efforts  do  not  obscure  the  glory 
of  great  men.  M.  de  Suffren  had  just  arrived  at  Paris ;  he  was  in  low  spirits  ; 
M.  de  Castries  took  him  to  Versailles.  There  was  a  numerous  and  brilliant 
court.  On  entering  the  guards’  hall,  “Gentlemen,”  said  the  minister  to  the 
officers  on  duty,  “  this  is  M.  de  Suffren.”  Everybody  rose,  and  the  body¬ 
guards,  forming  an  escort  for  the  admiral,  accompanied  him  to  the  king’s 
chamber.  His  career  was  over;  the  last  of  the  great  sailors  of  the  ancien 
regime  died  on  the  8th  of  December,  1788. 

While  Hyder  Ali  and  M.  de  Suffren  were  still  disputing  India  with 
England,  that  power  had  just  gained  in  Europe  an  important  advantage  in 
the  eyes  of  public  opinion  as  well  as  in  respect  of  her  supremacy  at  sea ;  we 
allude  to  the  town  and  fortress  of  Gibraltar  which,  after  being  invested  by  the 
Franco-Spanish  army  for  a  considerable  time,  was  relieved  and  revictualled  by 
Lord  Howe  in  1782. 

Peace  was  at  hand,  however;  all  the  belligerents  were  tired  of  the  strife, 
the  marquis  of  Rockingham  was  dead ;  his  ministry,  after  being  broken  up, 
had  re-formed  with  less  luster  under  the  leadership  of  Lord  Shelburne  ;  Wil¬ 
liam  Pitt,  Lord  Chatham’s  second  son,  at  that  time  twenty-two  years  of  age, 


1789] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


259 


had  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.  Already  negotiations  for  a  general  peace  had  be 
gun  at  Paris,  but  Washington,  who  eagerly  desired  the  end  of  the  war,  did 
not  yet  feel  any  confidence.  On  the  5th  of  December,  at  the  opening  of 
parliament,  George  III.  announced  in  the  speech  from  the  throne  that  he  had 
offered  to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  American  colonies.  “  In  thus 
admitting  their  separation  from  the  crown  of  this  kingdom,  I  have  sacrificed 
all  my  desires  to  the  wishes  and  opinion  of  my  people,”  said  the  king.  “  I 
humbly  pray  Almighty  God  that  Great  Britain  may  not  feel  the  evils  which 
may  flow  from  so  important  a  dismemberment  of  its  empire,  and  that  America 
may  be  a  stranger  to  the  calamities  which  have  before  now  proved  to  the 
mother-country  that  monarchy  is  inseparable  from  the  benefits  of  constitu¬ 
tional  liberty.  Religion,  language,  interests,  affections  may  still  form  a  bond 
of  union  between  the  two  countries,  and  I  will  spare  no  pains  or  attention  to 
promote  it.” 

To  the  exchange  of  conquests  between  France  and  England  was  added 
the  cession  to  France  of  the  island  of  Tobago  and  of  the  Senegal 
river  with  its  dependencies.  The  territory  of  Pondicherry  and  Karikal 

received  some  augmentation.  For  the  first  time  for  more  than  a  hundred 

years  the  English  renounced  the  humiliating  conditions  so  often  demanded 
on  the  subject  of  the  harbor  of  Dunkerque.  Spain  saw  herself  confirmed 
in  her  conquest  of  the  Floridas  and  of  the  island  of  Minorca.  Holland 
recovered  all  her  possessions,  except  Negapatam. 

France  came  out  exhausted  from  the  struggle,  but  relieved  in  her 
own  eyes  as  well  as  those  of  Europe  from  the  humiliation  inflicted 

upon  her  by  the  disastrous  Seven  Years’  War,  and  by  the  treaty  of 

1763.  She  saw  triumphant  the  cause  she  had  upheld,  and  her  enemies 
sorrow-stricken  at  the  dismemberment  they  had  suffered.  It  was  a  triumph 
for  her  arms  and  for  the  generous  impulse  which  had  prompted  her  to 
support  a  legitimate  but  for  a  long  while  doubtful  enterprise.  A  fresh 
element,  however,  had  come  to  add  itself  to  the  germs  of  disturbance, 
already  so  fruitful,  which  were  hatching  within  her.  She  had  prompted 
the  foundation  of  a  republic  based  upon  principles  of  absolute  right, 
the  government  had  given  way  to  the  ardent  sympathy  of  the  nation 
for  a  people  emancipated  from  a  long  yoke  by  its  deliberate  will 
and  its  indomitable  energy.  France  felt  her  heart  still  palpitating  from 
the  efforts  she  had  witnessed  and  shared  on  behalf  of  American  freedom  ; 
the  unreflecting  hopes  of  a  blind  emulation  were  already  agitating  many 
a  mind.  “In  all  states,”  said  Washington,  ‘‘there  are  inflammable  materials 
which  a  single  spark  may  kindle.”  In  1783,  on  the  morrow  of  the 
American  war,  the  inflammable  materials  everywhere  accumulated  in  France 
were  already  providing  means  for  that  immense  conflagration  in  the 
midst  of  which  the  country  well-nigh  perished, 

After  a  few  inefficient  and  useless  ministers,  Necker  had  been  called 
to  the  important  post  so  ably  filled  by  Turgot.  Public  opinion  was 
favorable  to  him,  his  promotion  wa-s  well  received  ;  it  presented,  however, 


26o 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[•775 


great  difficulties :  he  had  been  a  banker,  and  hitherto  the  comptrollers- 
general  had  all  belonged  to  the  class  of  magistrates  or  superintendents; 
he  was  a  Protestant,  and,  as  such,  could  not  hold  any  office.  The  clergy 
were  in  commotion ;  they  tried  certain  remonstrances.  The  opposition 
of  the  Church,  however,  closed  to  the  new  minister  an  important  opening ; 
at  first  director  of  the  treasury,  then  director-general  of  finance,  M.  Necker 
never  received  the  title  of  comptroller-general,  and  was  not  admitted  to 
the  council.  From  the  outset,  with  a  disinterestedness  not  devoid  of  osten¬ 
tation,  he  had  declined  the  salary  attached  to  his  functions.  The  courtiers 
looked  at  one  another  in  astonishment. 

This  was  for  awhile  the  feeling  throughout  France.  “No  bank¬ 
ruptcies,  no  new  imposts,  no  loans,”  M.  Turgot  had  said,  and  had 
looked  to  economy  alone  for  the  resources  necessary  to  restore  the 
finances.  Bolder  and  less  scrupulous,  M.  Necker,  who  had  no  idea  of 
having  recourse  to  either  bankruptcy  or  imposts,  made  unreserved  use 
of  the  system  of  loans.  During  the  five  years  that  his  ministry  lasted,  the 
successive  loans  he  contracted  amounted  to  nearly  five  hundred  million  livres. 
There  was  no  security  given  to  insure  its  repayment  to  the  lenders.  The 
mere  confidence  felt  in  the  minister’s  ability  and  honesty  had  caused  the 
money  to  flow  into  the  treasury. 

M.  Necker  did  not  stop  there:  a  foreigner  by  birth,  he  felt  no 
respect  for  the  great  tradition  of  French  administration;  practised  in 
the  handling  of  funds,  he  had  conceived  as  to  the  internal  government 
of  the  finances  theories  opposed  to  the  old  system ;  the  superintendents 
established  awhile  ago  by  Richelieu  had  become  powerful  in  the  central 
administration  as  well  as  in  the  provinces,  and  the  comptroller-general  was 
in  the  habit  of  accounting  with  them ;  they  nearly  all  belonged  to  old 
and  notable  families ;  some  of  them  had  won  the  public  regard  and 
esteem.  The  posts  at  court  likewise  underwent  reform :  the  courtiers 
saw  at  one  blow  the  improper  sources  of  their  revenues  in  the  finan¬ 
cial  administration  cut  off,  and  obsolete  and  ridiculous  appointments,  to 
which  numerous  pensions  were  attached,  reduced.  Their  discontent  was 
becoming  every  day  more  noisy,  without  as  yet  shaking  the  credit  of 
M.  Necker.  He  thought  the  moment  had  come  for  giving  public  opinion 
the  summons  of  which  he  recognized  the  necessity;  he  felt  himself 
shaken  at  court,  weakened  in  the  regard  of  M.  de  Maurepas,  who  was 
still  powerful  in  spite  of  his  great  age  and  jealous  of  him  as  he  had 
been  of  M.  Turgot;  he  had  made  up  his  mind,  he  said,  to  let  the 
nation  know  how  its  affairs  had  been  managed,  and  in  the  early  days 
of  the  year  1781  he  published  his  Compte  rendu  an  roi. 

It  was  a  bold  innovation  ;  hitherto  the  administration  of  the  finances 
had  been  carefully  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  the  public  as  the  greatest 
secret  in  the  affairs  of  State ;  for  the  first  time  the  nation  was  called 
upon  to  take  cognizance  of  the  position  of  the  public  estate  and,  conse¬ 
quently,  pass  judgment  upon  its  administration.  The  very  reforms  brought 


1789] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


26l 


about  by  the  minister  rendered  his  fall  more  imminent  every  day.  He 
had  driven  into  coalition  against  him  the  powerful  influences  of  the 
courtiers,  of  the  old  families  whose  hereditary  destination  was  office  in 
the  administration,  and  of  the  parliament  everywhere  irritated  and  anxious. 
He  had  lessened  the  fortunes  and  position  of  the  two  former  classes, 
and  his  measures  tended  to  strip  the  magistracy  of  the  authority  where  of 
they  were  so  jealous;  obliged  finally  to  send  in  his  resignation  (1781),  he  was 
replaced  by  M.  de  Calonne. 

It  was  court-influence  that  carried  the  day  and,  in  the  court,  that 
of  the  queen,  prompted  by  her  favorite,  Madame  de  Polignac.  Tenderly 
attached  to  his  wife,  who  had  at  last  given  him  a  son,  Louis  XVI., 
delivered  from  the  predominant  influence  of  M.  de  Maurepas,  was  yielding, 
almost  unconsciously,  to  a  new  power.  Marie  Antoinette,  who  had  long 
held  aloof  from  politics,  henceforth  changed  her  part ;  at  the  instigation 
of  the  friends  whom  she  honored  with  a  perhaps  excessive  intimacy,  she 
began  to  take  an  important  share  in  affairs,  a  share  which  was  often 
exaggerated  by  public  opinion,  more  and  more  hard  upon  her  every  day. 

In  the  home-circle  of  the  royal  family,  the  queen  had  not  found 
any  intimate  friend:  the  king’s  aunts  had  never  taken  to  her ;  the  crafty 
ability  of  the  count  of  Provence  and  the’  giddiness  of  the  count  of 
Artois  seemed  in  the  prudent  eye  of  Maria  Theresa  to  be  equally  dangerous; 
Madame  Elizabeth,  the  heroic  and  pious  companion  of  the  evil  days, 
was  still  a  mere  child  ;  already  the  duke  of  Chartres,  irreligious  and 
debauched,  displayed  toward  the  queen  who  kept  him  at  a  distance 
symptoms  of  a  bitter  rancor  which  was  destined  to  bear  fruit ;  Marie 
Antoinette,  accustomed  to  a  numerous  family,  affectionately  united,  sought 
friends  who  could  Move  her  for  herself,”  as  she  used  to  say.  An  illusive 
hope,  in  one  of  her  rank,  for  which  she  was  destined  to  pay  dearly. 
She  formed  an  attachment  to  the  young  princess  of  Lamballe,  daughter- 
in-law  of  the  duke  of  Penthievre,  a  widow  at  twenty  years  of  age, 
affectionate  and  gentle,  for  whom  she  revived  the  post  of  lady-superin¬ 
tendent,  abolished  by  Mary  Leczinska.  The  court  was  in  commotion, 
and  the  public  murmured  ;  the  queen  paid  no  heed,  absorbed  as  she  was 
in  the  new  delights  of  friendship ;  the  intimacy,  in  which  there  was 
scarcely  any  inequality,  with  the  princess  of  Lamballe,  was  soon  followed 
by  a  more  perilous  affection  ;  the  countess  Jules  de  Polignac,  who  was 
generally  detained  in  the  country  by  the  narrowness  of  her  means, 
appeared  at  court  on  the  occasion  of  a  festival ;  the  queen  was  pleased 
with  her,  made  her  remain  and  loaded  her  and  her  family,  not  only 
with  favors  but  with  unbounded  and  excessive  familiarity.  Finding  the 
court-circles  a  constraint  and  an  annoyance,  Marie  Antoinette  became 
accustomed  to  seek  in  the  drawing-room  of  Madame  de  Polignac  amuse¬ 
ments  and  a  freedom  which  led  before  long  to  sinister  gossip.  Those 
who  were  admitted  to  this  royal  intimacy  were  not  always  prudent  or 
discreet,  they  abused  the  confidence  as  well  as  the  general  kindness  cf 


262 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 


the  queen ;  their  ambition  and  their  cupidity  were  equally  concerned  in 
urging  Marie  Antoinette  to  take  in  the  government  a  part  for  which 
she  was  not  naturally  inclined.  M.  de  Calonne  was  intimate  with  Madame 
de  Polignac ;  she,  created  a  duchess  and  appointed  governess  to  the 
children  of  France  (the  royal  children),  was  all-powerful  with  her  friend 
the  queen  ;  she  dwelt  upon  the  talents  of  M.  de  Calonne,  the  extent 
and  fertility  of  his  resources;  M.  de  Vergennes  was  won  over,  and  the 
office  of  comptroller-general,  which  had  but  lately  been  still  discharged 
with  luster  by  M.  Turgot  and  M.  Necker,  fell  on  the  30th  of  October, 
1784,  into  the  hands  of  M.  de  Calonne. 

Discredited  from  the  very  first  by  a  dishonorable  action,  he  had  invariably 
managed  to  get  his  vices  forgotten,  thanks  to  the  charms  of  a  brilliant  and 
fertile  wit.  Prodigal  and  irregular  as  superintendent  of  Lille,  he  imported 
into  the  comptroller-generalship  habits  and  ideas  opposed  to  all  the  principles 
of  Louis  XVI.  “The  reputation  of  M.  de  Calonne,”  says  M.  Necker  in  his 
memoires,  “  was  a  contrast  to  the  morality  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  I  know  not  by 
what  argumentation,  by  what  ascendancy  such  a  prince  was  induced  to  give 
a  place  in  his  council  to  a  magistrate  who  was  certainly  found  agreeable  in  the 
most  elegant  society  of  Paris,  but  whose  levity  and  principles  were  dreaded  by 
the  whole  of  France.  Money  was  lavished,  largesses  were  multiplied,  there 
was  no  declining  to  be  good-natured  or  complaisant,  economy  was  made  the 
object  of  ridicule,  it  was  daringly  asserted  that  immensity  of  expenditure, 
animating  circulation,  was  the  true  principle  of  credit.” 

If  the  first  steps  of  M.  de  Calonne  dismayed  men  of  foresight  and  of 
experience  in  affairs,  the  public  was  charmed  with  them,  no  less  than  the 
courtiers.  The  bail  des  fermes  was  re-established,  the  Caisse  d' escompte  had 
resumed  payment,  the  stock-holders  ( rentiers )  received  their  quarters’  arrears, 
the  loan  whereby  the  comptroller-general  met  all  expenses  had  reached 
eleven  per  cent. 

The  captivation  was  general,  the  blindness  seemed  to  be  so  likewise;  a 
feverish  impulse  carried  people  away  into  all  new-fangled  ways,  serious  or 
frivolous.  Mesmer  brought  from  Germany  his  mysterious  revelations  in 
respect  of  problems  as  yet  unsolved  by  science,  and  pretended  to  cure  all 
diseases  around  the  magnetic  battery  ;  the  adventurer  Cagliostro,  embellished 
with  the  title  of  count  and  lavishing  gold  by  handfuls,  bewitched  court  and 
city.  At  the  same  time  splendid  works  in  the  most  diverse  directions  main¬ 
tained  at  the  topmost  place  in  the  world  that  scientific  genius  of  France 
which  the  great  minds  of  the  seventeenth  century  had  revealed  to  Europe. 
The  ladies  of  fashion  crowded  to  the  brilliant  lectures  of  Fourcroy.  The 
princes  of  pure  science,  M.  de  Lagrange,  M.  de  Laplace,  M.  Monge,  did  not 
disdain  to  wrench  themselves  from  their  learned  calculations  in  order  to 
second  the  useful  labors  of  Lavoisier.  Bold  voyagers  were  scouring  the 
world,  pioneers  of  those  enterprises  of  discovery  which  had  appeared  for  a 
while  abandoned  during  the  seventeenth  century.  M.  de  Bougainville  had 
just  completed  the  round  of  the  world,  and  the  English  captain,  Cook,  during 


1789] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


263 

the  war  which  covered  all  seas  with  hostile  ships,  had  been  protected  by 
generous  sympathy.  The  name  of  another  distinguished  sailor,  M.  de  La 
Peyrouse,  must  not  be  forgotten  ;  nor  should  we  leave  unnoticed  the  first 
attempts  in  aerial  locomotion  made  by  MM.  de  Montgolfier  and  Pilatre  de 
Rozier. 

So  many  scientific  explorations,  so  many  new  discoveries  of  nature’s 
secrets  were  seconded  and  celebrated  by  an  analogous  movement  in  literature. 
Rousseau  had  led  the  way  to  impassioned  admiration  of  the  beauties  of 
nature  ;  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre  had  just  published  his  Etudes  de  la  Nature ; 
he  had  in  the  press  his  Paul  et  Virginie ;  the  Abbe  Delille  was  reading  his 
Jardin ,  and  M.  de  St.  Lambert  his  Saisons.  In  their  different  phases  and 
according  to  their  special  instincts,  all  minds,  scholarly  or  political,  literary  or 
philosophical,  were  tending  to  the  same  end  and  pursuing  the  same  attempt. 
It  was  nature  which  men  wanted  to  discover  or  recover:  scientific  laws  and 
natural  rights  divided  men’s  souls  between  them.  Buffon  was  still  alive,  and 
the  great  sailors  were  every  day  enriching  with  their  discoveries  the  Jardin  du 
Roi ;  the  physicists  and  the  chemists,  in  the  wake  of  Lavoisier,  were  givingto 
science  a  language  intelligible  to  common  folks  ;  the  juris-consults  were 
attempting  to  reform  the  rigors  of  criminal  legislation  at  the  same  time  with 
the  abuses  they  had  entailed,  and  Beaumarchais  was  bringing  on  the  boards 
his  Mariage  de  Figaro. 

Figaro  ridiculed  everything  with  a  dangerously  pungent  vigor;  the  days 
were  coming  when  the  pleasantry  was  to  change  into  insults.  Already  public 
opinion  was  becoming  hostile  to  the  queen :  she  was  accused  of  having 
remained  devoted  to  the  interests  of  her  German  family;  the  people  were 
beginning  to  call  her  the  Austrian.  This  direful  malevolence  on  the  part  of 
public  opinion,  springing  from  a  few  acts  of  imprudence,  and  fomented  by  a 
long  series  of  calumnies,  burst  forth  on  the  occasion  of  a  scandalous  and 
grievous  occurrence ;  we  mean  the  affair  of  the  diamond  necklace,  which  led 
to  the  arrest  of  the  cardinal  De  Rohan. 

M.  de  Calonne  had  taken  little  part  in  the  excitement  which  the  trial  of 
Cardinal  Rohan  caused  in  court  and  city  ;  he  was  absorbed  by  the  incessantly 
recurring  difficulties  presented  by  the  condition  of  the  Treasury  ;  speculation 
had  extended  to  all  classes  of  society ;  loans  succeeded  loans,  everywhere 
there  were  formed  financial  companies,  without  any  resources  to  speak  of, 
speculating  on  credit.  Parliament  began  to  be  alarmed,  and  enregistered  no 
more  credits  save  with  repugnance.  In  view  of  the  stress  at  the  Treasury,  of 
growing  discontent,  of  vanished  ’illusions,  the  comptroller-general  meditated 
convoking  the  Assembly  of  Notables,  the  feeble  resource  of  the  old  French 
kingship  before  the  days  of  pure  monarchy,  an  expedient  more  insufficient 
and  more  dangerous  than  the  most  far-seeing  divined  after  the  lessons  of  the 
philosophers  and  the  continuous  abasement  of  the  kingly  majesty. 

The  convocation  of  the  notables  brought  about  the  views  of  the  minister, 
who  had  staked  his  popularity  upon  it  (1787);  he  was  succeeded  by  Lomenie 
de  Brienne,  a  minister  who  “  had  nothing  but  bad  moves  to  make,”  says  M. 


264 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 

Mignet.  Three  edicts  touching  the  trade  in  grain,  forced  labor  and  the 
provincial  assemblies  were  first  sent  up  to  the  parliament  and  enregistered 
without  any  difficulty  ;  the  two  edicts  touching  the  stamp-tax  and  equal 
assessment  of  the  impost  were  to  meet  with  more  hinderance ;  the  latter  at 
any  rate  united  the  sympathies  of  all  the  partisans  of  genuine  reforms  ;  the 
edict  touching  the  stamp-tax  was  by  itself  and  first  submitted  for  the  approval 
of  the  magistrates  :  they  rejected  it,  asking,  like  the  notables,  fora  communi¬ 
cation  as  to  the  state  of  finance.  At  the  same  time  the  parliament  demanded 
the  impeachment  of  M.  de  Calonne ;  he  took  fright  and  sought  refuge  in 
England.  The  mob  rose  in  Paris,  imputing  to  the  court  the  prodigalities 
with  which  the  parliament  reproached  the  late  comptroller-general.  Sad 
symptom  of  the  fatal  progress  of  public  opinion  !  The  cries  heretofore 
raised  against  the  queen  under  the  name  of  Austrian  were  now  uttered 
against  Madame  Deficit ,  pending  the  time  when  the  fearful  title  of  Madame 
Veto  would  give  place  in  its  turn  to  the  sad  name  of  the  woman  Capet  given 
to  the  victim  of  October  16th,  1793. 

The  king  summoned  the  parliament  to  Versailles,  and  on  the  6th  of 
August,  1787,  the  edicts  touching  the  stamp-tax  and  territorial  subvention 
were  enregistered  in  bed  of  justice.  The  parliament  had  protested  in  advance 
against  this  act  of  royal  authority,  which  it  called  “a  phantom  of  delibera¬ 
tion.”  On  the  13th  of  August,  the  court  declared  “  the  registration  of  the 
edicts  null  and  without  effect,  incompetent  to  authorize  the  collection  of 
imposts  opposed  to  all  principles ;  ”  this  resolution  was  sent  to  all  the 
seneschalties  and  bailiwicks  in  the  district.  It  was  in  the  name  of  the 
privilege  of  the  two  upper  orders  that  the  parliament  of  Paris  contested  the 
royal  edicts  and  made  appeal  to  the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  States-general ; 
the  people  did  not  see  it,  they  took  out  the  horses  of  M.  d’Espremesnil,  whose 
fiery  eloquence  had  won  over  a  great  number  of  his  colleagues,  and  he  was 
carried  in  triumph.  On  the  15th  of  August,  the  parliament  was  sent  away  to 
Troyes,  to  be,  however,  recalled  a  little  more  than  a  month  later.  M.  de 
Brienne  hoped  thus  to  obtain  a  loan  of  420,000,000,  which  was  to  be  raised 
in  the  course  of  five  years.  The  king  held  a  bed  of  justice  at  Versailles,  and 
insisted  upon  the  registration  of  the  necessary  edicts ;  notwithstanding  the 
efforts  of  M.  de  Malesherbes  and  the  duke  of  Nivernais,  the  parliament 
inscribed  on  the  registers  that  it  was  not  to  be  understood  to  take  any  part 
in  the  transcription  here  ordered  of  gradual  and  progressive  loans  for  the 
years  1788,  1789,  1790,  1791  and  1792.  In  reply,  the  duke  of  Orleans  was 
banished  to  Villers-Cotterets,  while  councillors  Freteau  and  Sabatier,  who 
had  made  themselves  conspicuous  by  their  opposition,  were  arrested  and  taken 
to  a  state-prison. 

1  he  contest  extended  as  it  grew  hotter ;  everywhere  the  parliaments 
took  up  the  quarrel  of  the  court  of  Paris  ;  the  formation  of  the  provincial 
assemblies  furnished  new  centers  of  opposition  ;  the  petty  noblesse  made 
alliance  with  the  magistracy,  the  antagonism  of  principles  became  every  day 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


1789] 


more  evident ;  after  the  five  months  elapsed  since  the  royal  session,  the 
parliament  was  still  protesting  against  the  violence  done  to  it. 

The  indiscretion  of  a  printer  made  M.  d’Espremesnil  acquainted  with  the 
great  designs  which  were  in  preparation ;  at  his  instigation  the  parliament 
issued  a  declaration  as  to  the  reciprocal  rights  and  duties  of  the  monarch  and 
the  nation.  “  France,”  said  the  resolution,  “  is  a  monarchy  hereditary  from 
male  to  male,  governed  by  the  king  following  the  laws ;  it  has  for  funda¬ 
mental  laws  the  nation’s  right  to  freely  grant  subsidies  by  means  of  the 
States-general,  convoked  and  composed  according  to  regulation,  the  customs 
and  capitulations  of  the  provinces,  the  irremovability  of  the  magistrates,  the 
right  of  the  courts  to  enregister  edicts,  and  that  of  each  citizen  to  be  judged 
only  by  his  natural  judges,  without  liability  ever  to  be  arrested  arbitrarily.” 
“  The  magistrates  must  cease  to  exist  before  the  nation  ceases  to  be  free,” 
said  a  second  protest. 

Bold  and  defiant  in  its  grotesque  mixture  of  the  ancient  principles  of  the 
magistracy  with  the  novel  theories  of  philosophy,  the  resolution  of  the 
parliament  was  quashed  by  the  king.  Orders  were  given  to  arrest  M. 
d’Espremesnil  and  a  young  councillor,  Goislard  de  Montsabert,  who  had 
played  also  an  active  part  in  the  spirited  resistance  to  the  orders  of  the 
court.  The  former  was  taken  to  the  island  of  St.  Marguerite,  and  the  latter 
imprisoned  at  Pierre  Encise. 

Notwithstanding  his  promise  to  convoke  the  States-general  for  the  1st  of 
May,  1789,  M.  de  Brienne  became  more  and  more  unpopular,  and  disturb¬ 
ances  broke  out  in  several  points  of  the  kingdom.  Legal  in  Normandy, 
violent  in  Brittany,  tumultuous  in  Bearn,  the  parliamentary  protests  took  a 
politic  and  methodical  form  in  Dauphiny.  An  insurrection  among  the  populace 
of  Grenoble,  soon  supported  by  the  villagers  from  the  mountains,  had  at  first 
flown  to  arms  at  the  sound  of  the  tocsin.  The  members  of  the  parliament, 
on  the  point  of  leaving  the  city,  had  been  detained  by  force,  and  their 
carriages  had  been  smashed.  The  troops  offered  little  resistance ;  an  entry 
was  effected  into  the  house  of  the  governor,  the  duke  of  Clermont-Tonnerre, 
and,  with  an  axe  above  his  head,  the  insurgents  threatened  to  hang  him  to 
the  chandelier  in  his  drawing-room  if  he  did  not  convoke  the  parliament. 
Ragged  ruffians  ran  to  the  magistrates,  and  compelled  them  to  meet  in  the 
sessions-hall.  The  members  of  parliament  succeeded  with  great  difficulty  in 
pacifying  the  mob.  As  soon  as  they  found  themselves  free,  they  hastened 
away  into  exile.  Other  hands  had  taken  up  their  quarrel.  A  certain  number 
of  members  of  the  three  orders  met  at  the  town  hall,  and,  on  their  private 
authority,  convoked  for  the  21st  of  July  the  special  States  of  Dauphiny, 
suppressed  awhile  before  by  Cardinal  Richelieu. 

The  duke  of  Clermont-Tonnerre  had  been  superseded  by  old  Marshal 
Vaux,  rough  and  ready.  He  had  at  his  disposal  twenty  thousand  men. 
Scarcely  had  he  arrived  at  Grenoble  when  he  wrote  to  Versailles,  “  It  is  too 
late,”  he  said.  The  prerogatives  of  royal  authority  were  maintained, 
however.  The  marshal  granted  a  meeting  of  the  States-provincial,  but  he 


266 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


L1 775 


required  permission  to  be  asked  of  him.  He  forbade  the  assembly  to  be  held 
at  Grenoble.  It  was  in  the  castle  of  Vizille,  a  former  residence  of  the 
dauphins,  that  the  three  orders  of  Dauphiny  met,  closely  united  together  in 
wise  and  patriotic  accord.  The  archbishop  of  Vienne,  Lefranc  de  Pompignan, 
brother  of  the  poet,  lately  the  inveterate  foe  of  Voltaire,  an  ardently  and 
sincerely  pious  man,  led  his  clergy  along  the  most  liberal  path  ;  the.  noblesse 
of  the  sword,  mingled  with  the  noblesse  of  the  robe,  voted  blindly  all  the 
resolutions  of  the  third  estate  ;  these  were  suggested  by  the  real  head  of  the 
assembly,  M.  Mounier,  judge-royal  of  Grenoble,  a  friend  of  M.  Necker  s,  an 
enlightened,  loyal,  honorable  man,  destined  ere  long  to  make  hU  name  known 
over  the  whole  of  France  by  his  courageous  resistance  to  the  outbursts  of  the 
National  Assembly.  Unanimously  the  three  orders  presented  to  the  king 
their  claims  to  the  olden  liberties  of  the  province ;  they  loudly  declared, 
however,  that  they  were  prepared  for  all  sacrifices  and  aspired  to  nothing  but 
the  common  rights  of  all  Frenchmen.  The  double  representation  of  the 
third  in  the  estates  of  Dauphiny  was  voted  without  contest,  as  well  as  equal 
assessment  of  the  impost  intended  to  replace  forced  labor.  Throughout  the 
whole  province  the  most  perfect  order  had  succeeded  the  first  manifestations 
of  popular  irritation. 

Meanwhile  the  Treasury  was  found  to  be  empty;  all  the  resources  were 
exhausted,  disgraceful  tricks  had  despoiled  the  hospitals  and  the  poor  ;  credit 
was  used  up,  the  payments  of  the  State  were  backward  ;  the  discount-bank 
(caisse  d' escompte)  was  authorized  to  refuse  to  give  coin.  A  decree  of  August 
8th,  1788,  announced  that  the  States-general  would  be  convoked  May  1st, 
1789  ;  the  re-establishment  of  the  plenary  court  was  suspended  to  that  date. 

On  the  25th  of  August,  1788,  the  king  sent  for  M.  Necker.  For  an 
instant  his  return  to  power  had  the  effect  of  restoring  some  hope  to  the  most 
far-sighted.  On  his  coming  into  office  the  treasury  was  empty,  there  was  no 
scraping  together  as  much  as  five  thousand  livres.  The  need  was  pressing, 
the  harvests  were  bad ;  the  credit  and  the  able  resources  of  the  great 
financier  sufficed  for  all ;  the  funds  went  up  thirty  per  cent,  in  one  day  ; 
certain  capitalists  made  advances,  the  chamber  of  the  notaries  of  Paris  paid 
six  millions  into  the  treasury,  M.  Necker  lent  two  millions  out  of  his  private 
fortune.  The  great  financial  talents  of  the  minister,  his  probity,  his  courage, 
had  caused  illusions  as  to  his  political  talents ;  useful  in  his  day  and  in  his 
degree,  the  new  minister  was  no  longer  equal  to  the  task.  The  distresses  of 
the  treasury  had  powerfully  contributed  to  bring  about,  to  develop  the 
political  crisis  ;  the  public  cry  for  the  States-general  had  arisen  in  a  great 
degree  from  the  deficit  ;  but  henceforth  financial  resources  did  not  suffice  to 
conjure  away  the  danger;  the  discount-bank  had  resumed  payment,  the  State 
honored  its  engagements,  the  phantom  of  bankruptcy  disappeared  from 
before  the  frightened  eyes  of  stockholders  ;  nevertheless  the  agitation  did  not 
subside,  minds  were  full  of  higher  and  more  tenacious  concernments.  Every 
gaze  was  turned  toward  the  States-general.  Scarcely  was  M.  Necker  in 
power,  when  a  royal  proclamation,  sent  to  the  parliament  returning  to 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


1789] 


Paris,  announced  the  convocation  of  the  Assembly  for  the  month  of  January, 
1789. 

The  States-general  themselves  had  become  a  topic  of  the  most  lively 
discussion.  Amid  the  embarrassment  of  his  government,  and  in  order  to 
throw  a  sop  to  the  activity  of  the  opposition,  Brienne  had  declared  his  doubts 
and  his  deficiency  of  enlightenment  as  to  the  form  to  be  given  to  the 
deliberations  of  that  ancient  assembly,  always  convoked  at  the  most  critical 
junctures  of  the  national  history,  and  abandoned  for  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  years  past.  In  the  wake  of  the  king’s  appeal,  a  flood  of  tracts 
and  pamphlets  had  inundated  Paris  and  the  provinces :  some  devoted  to  the 
defense  of  ancient  usages  ;  the  most  part  intended  to  prove  that  the  consti¬ 
tution  of  the  olden  monarchy  of  France  contained  in  principle  all  the 
political  liberties  which  were  but  asking  permission  to  soar ;  some  finally, 
bolder  and  the  most  applauded  of  all,  like  that  of  Count  d'Entraigues’,  Note 
on  the  States-general ,  their  rights  and  the  manner  of  convoking  them ,  and  that 
of  the  Abbe  Sieyes,  What  is  the  third  estate?  Sieyes’  pamphlet  had  already 
sold  to  the  extent  of  thirty  thousand  copies  ;  the  development  of  his  ideas 
was  an  audacious  commentary  upon  his  modest  title.  “  What  is  the  third 
estate?”  said  the  able  revolutionist:  “  Nothing.  What  ought  it  to  be? 
Everything.”  It  was  hoisting  the  flag  against  the  two  upper  orders. 

The  whole  of  France  was  fever-stricken.  The  agitation  was  contra¬ 
dictory  and  confused,  a  medley  of  confidence  and  fear,  joy  and  rage, 
everywhere  violent  and  contagious.  This  time  again  Dauphiny  showed  an 
example  of  politic  and  wise  behavior.  The  preparatory  assemblies  were 
tumultuous  in  many  spots  :  in  Provence  as  well  as  in  Brittany  they  became 
violent.  In  his  province,  Mirabeau  was  the  cause  or  pretext  for  the  troubles. 
Born  at  Bignon,  near  Nemours,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1749,  well  known 
already  for  his  talent  as  a  writer  and  orator  as  well  as  for  the  startling 
irregularities  of  his  life,  he  was  passionately  desirous  of  being  elected  to  the 
States-general.  “I  don’t  think  I  shall  be  useless  there,”  he  wrote  to  his 
friend  Cerruti.  Nowhere,  however,  was  his  character  worse  than  in  Provence  : 
there  people  had  witnessed  his  dissensions  with  his  father  as  well  as  with  his 
wife.  Public  contempt,  a  just  punishment,  for  his  vices,  caused  his  admission 
into  the  States-provincial  to  be  unjustly  opposed.  The  assembly  was 
composed  exclusively  of  nobles  in  possession  of  fiefs,  of  ecclesiastical  digni¬ 
taries  and  of  a  small  number  of  municipal  officers.  It  claimed  to  elect  the 
deputies  to  the  States-general  according  to  the  ancient  usages.  Mirabeau’s 
common  sense,  as  well  as  his  great  and  powerful  genius,  revolted  against  the 
absurd  theories  of  the  privileged  ;  he  overwhelmed  them  with  his  terrible 
eloquence,  while  adjuring  them  to  renounce  their  abuseful  and  obsolete 
rights ;  he  scared  them  by  his  forceful  and  striking  hideousness. 

Mirabeau  was  shut  out  from  the  States-provincial,  and  soon  adopted 
eagerly  by  the  third  estate.  Elected  at  Marseilles  as  well  as  at  Aix  for  the 
States-general,  he  quieted,  in  these  two  cities  successively,  riots  occasioned  by 
the  dearness  of  bread.  The  people,  in  their  enthusiasm,  thronged  upon  him, 


268 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 


accepting  his  will  without  a  murmur  when  he  restored  to  their  proper  figure 
provisions  lowered  in  price  through  the  terror  of  the  authorities.  The  petty 
noblesse  and  the  lower  provincial  clergy  had  everywhere  taken  the  side  of  the 
third  estate.  Mirabeau  was  triumphant :  “  I  have  been,  am,  and  shall  be  to 

the  last,”  he  exclaimed,  “the  man  for  public  liberty,  the  man  for  the  consti¬ 
tution.” 

The  day  of  meeting  of  the  States-general  was  at  hand.  Almost  every¬ 
where  the  elections  had  been  quiet,  and  the  electors  less  numerous  than  had 
been  anticipated.  We  know  what  indifference  and  lassitude  may  attach  to 
the  exercise  of  rights  which  would  not  be  willingly  renounced ;  ignorance  and 
inexperience  kept  away  from  the  primary  assemblies  many  working  men  and 
peasants ;  the  middle  class  alone  proceeded  in  mass  to  the  elections.  The 
irregular  slowness  of  the  preparatory  operations  had  retarded  the  convoca¬ 
tions  ;  for  three  months  the  agitation  attendant  upon  successive  assemblies 
kept  France  in  suspense.  Paris  was  still  voting  on  the  28th  of  April,  1789; 
the  mob  thronged  the  streets ;  all  at  once  the  rumor  ran  that  an  attack  was 
being  made  on  the  house  of  an  ornamental-paper  maker  in  the  faubourg  St 
Antoine,  named  Reveillon.  Starting  as  a  simple  journeyman,  this  man  had 
honestly  made  his  fortune  ;  he  was  kind  to  those  who  worked  in  his  shops : 
he  was  accused,  nevertheless,  among  the  populace,  of  having  declared  that  a 
journeyman  could  live  on  fifteen  sous  a  day.  The  day  before  threats  had 
been  leveled  at  him  ;  he  had  asked  for  protection  from  the  police;  thirty  men 
had  been  sent  to  him.  The  madmen  who  were  swarming  around  his  house 
and  stores  soon  got  the  better  of  so  weak  a  guard,  everything  was  destroyed  ; 
the  rioters  rushed  to  the  archbishop’s,  there  was  voting  going  on  there ; 
they  expected  to  find  Reveillon,  whom  they  wanted  to  murder.  They  were 
repulsed  by  the  battalions  of  the  French  and  Swiss  guards.  More  than  two 
hundred  were  killed.  Money  was  found  in  their  pockets.  The  parliament 
suspended  its  prosecutions  against  the  ringleaders  of  so  many  crimes.  The 
government,  impotent  and  disarmed,  as  timid  in  presence  of  this  riot  as  in 
presence  of  opposing  parties,  at  last  came  before  the  States-general,  but  blown 
about  by  the  contrary  winds  of  excited  passions,  without  any  guide  and  with¬ 
out  fixed  resolves,  without  any  firm  and  compact  nucleus  in  the  midst  of  a 
new  and  unknown  Assembly,  without  confidence  in  the  troops,  who  were 
looked  upon,  however,  as  a  possible  and  last  resort. 

The  States-general  were  presented  to  the  king  on  the  2d  of  May,  1789. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  two  upper  orders,  by  a  prophetic  instinct  of  their  ruin, 
wanted,  for  the  last  time,  to  make  a  parade  of  their  privileges.  Introduced 
without  delay  to  the  king,  they  left,  in  front  of  the  palace,  the  deputies  of  the 
third  estate  to  wait  in  the  rain.  The  latter  were  getting  angry,  and  already 
beginning  to  clamor,  when  the  gates  were  opened  to  them.  In  the  magnifi¬ 
cent  procession  on  the  4th,  when  the  three  orders  accompanied  the  king  to 
the  church  of  St.  Louis  at  Versailles,  the  laced  coats  and  decorations  of  the 
nobles,  the  superb  vestments  of  the  prelates  easily  eclipsed  the  modest  cassocks 
of  the  country  priests  as  well  as  the  somber  costume  imposed  by  ceremonial 


Louis  XVI.  taking  leave  of  bis  family,  January  20th,  1793,  on  the  road  to  execution 

F.  Lix.  See  page  276. 


% 


1789] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


269 

upon  the  deputies  of  the  third  estate ;  the  bishop  of  Nancy,  M.  de  la  Fare, 
maintained  the  traditional  distinctions  even  in  the  sermon  he  delivered  before 
the  king.  The  untimely  applause  which  greeted  the  bishop’s  words  was 
excited  by  the  picture  he  drew  of  the  misery  in  the  country  places  exhausted 
by  the  rapacity  of  the  fiscal  agents.  At  this  striking  solemnity,  set  off  with 
all  the  pomp  of  the  past,  animated  with  all  the  hopes  of  the  future,  the  eyes 
of  the  public  sought  out,  amid  the  somber  mass  of  deputies  of  the  third 
(estate)  those  whom  their  deeds,  good  or  evil,  had  already  made  celebrated  : 
Malouet,  Mounier,  Mirabeau,  the  last  greeted  with  a  murmur  which  was  for  a 
long  while  yet  to  accompany  his  name. 

The  opening  of  the  session  took  place  on  the  5th  of  May.  The  royal 
procession  had  been  saluted  by  the  crowd  with  repeated  and  organized  shouts 
of  “  Hurrah  !  for  the  duke  of  Orleans  !  ”  which  had  disturbed  and  agitated  the 
queen.  “  The  king,”  says  Marmontel,  “  appeared  with  simple  dignity,  without 
pride,  without  timidity,  wearing  on  his  features  the  impress  of  the  goodness 
which  he  had  in  his  heart,  a  little  affected  by  the  spectacle  and  by  the  feelings 
which  the  deputies  of  a  faithful  nation  ought  to  inspire  in  its  king.”  His 
speech  was  short,  dignified,  affectionate,  and  without  political  purport.  With 
more  of  pomp  and  detail,  the  minister  confined  himself  within  the  same  limits. 
The  mode  of  action  corresponded  with  this  insufficient  language.  Crushed 
beneath  the  burden  of  past  defaults  and  errors,  the  government  tendered  its 
abdication,  in  advance,  into  the  hands  of  that  mightily  bewildered  Assembly 
it  had  just  convoked.  The  king  had  left  the  verification  of  powers  to  the 
States-general  themselves.  M.  Necker  confined  himself  to  pointing  out  the 
possibility  of  common  action  between  the  three  orders,  recommending  the 
deputies  to  examine  those  questions  discreetly. 

It  was  amid  a  chaos  of  passions,  wills  and  desires,  legitimate  or  culpable, 
patriotic  or  selfish,  that  there  was,  first  of  all,  propounded  the  question  of 
verification  of  powers.  Prompt  and  peremptory  on  the  part  of  the  noblesse, 
hesitating  and  cautious  on  the  part  of  the  clergy,  the  opposition  of  the  two 
upper  orders  to  any  common  action  irritated  the  third  estate  ;  its  appeals  had 
ended  in  nothing  but  conferences  broken  off,  then  resumed  at  the  king’s 
desire,  and  evidently  and  painfully  to  no  purpose.  “  By  an  inconceivable 
oversight  on  the  part  of  M.  Necker  in  the  local  apportionment  of  the  building 
appointed  for  the  assembly  of  the  States-general,  there  was  the  throne-room, 
or  room  of  the  three  orders,  a  room  for  the  noblesse,  one  for  the  clergy,  and 
none  for  the  commons,  who  remained,  quite  naturally,  established  in  the 
States-room,  the  largest,  the  most  ornate,  and  all  fitted  up  with  tribunes  for 
the  spectators  who  took  possession  of  the  public  boxes  (loges  communes)  in  the 
room.  When  it  was  perceived  that  this  crowd  of  strangers  and  their  plaudits 
only  excited  the  audacity  of  the  more  violent  speakers,  all  the  consequences 
of  this  installation  were  felt.  The  want  of  foresight  and  the  nervous  hesita¬ 
tion  of  the  ministers  had  placed  the  third  estate  in  a  novel  and  a  strong  situa¬ 
tion.  Installed  officially  in  the  States-room,  it  seemed  to  be  at  once  master 
of  the  position,  waiting  for  the  two  upper  orders  to  come  to  it.  Mirabeau 


270 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


[1775 


saw  this  with  that  rapid  insight  into  effects  and  consequences  which  consti¬ 
tutes,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the  orator’s  genius.  The  third  estate  had 
taken  possession,  none  could  henceforth  dispute  with  it  its  privileges,  and  it 
was  the  defense  of  a  right  that  had  been  won  which  was  to  inspire  the  fiery 
orator  with  his  mighty  audacity,  when  on  the  23d  of  June,  toward  evening, 
after  the  miserable  affair  of  the  royal  session,  the  marquis  of  Dreux-Breze 
came  back  into  the  room  to  beg  the  deputies  of  the  third  estate  to  withdraw. 
The  king’s  order  was  express,  but  already  certain  nobles  and  a  large  number 
of  ecclesiastics  had  joined  the  deputies  of  the  commons  ;  their  definitive 
victory  on  the  27th  of  June  and  the  fusion  of  the  three  orders  were  foreshad¬ 
owed  ;  Mirabeau  rose  at  the  entrance  of  the  grand-master  of  the  ceremonies : 
“  Go,”  he  shouted,  “  and  tell  those  who  send  you,  that  we  are  here  by  the  will 
of  the  people,  and  that  we  shall  not  budge  save  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.” 
This  was  the  beginning  of  revolutionary  violence. 

On  the  1 2th  of  June  the  battle  began;  the  calling  over  of  the  bailiwicks 
took  place  in  the  States-room.  The  third  estate  sat  alone.  At  each  province, 
each  chief  place,  each  roll  ( proces-vcrbal ),  the  secretaries  repeated  in  a  loud 
voice,  “  Gentlemen  of  the  clergy  ?  None  present.  Gentlemen  of  the  noblesse  ? 
None  present.”  Certain  parish  priests  alone  had  the  courage  to  separate  from 
their  order  and  submit  their  powers  for  verification.  All  the  deputies  of  the 
third  (estate)  at  once  gave  them  precedence.  The  day  of  persecution  was  not 
yet  come. 

Legality  still  stood,  the  third  estate  maintained  a  proud  moderation,  the 
border  was  easily  passed,  a  name  was  sufficient. 

The  title  of  States-general  was  oppressive  to  the  new  Assembly,  it 
recalled  the  distinction  between  the  orders  as  well  as  the  humble  posture  of 
the  third  estate  heretofore.  “  This  is  the  only  true  name,”  exclaimed  Abbe 
Sieyes :  “  Assembly  of  acknowledged  and  verified  representatives  of  the 
nation.”  This  was  a  contemptuous  repudiation  of  the  two  upper  orders. 
Mounier  replied  with  another  definition  :  “  Legitimate  assembly  of  the 

majority  among  the  deputies  of  the  nation,  deliberating  in  the  absence  of  the 
duly  invited  minority.”  The  subtleties  of  metaphysics  and  politics  are 
powerless  to  take  the  popular  fancy.  Mirabeau  felt  it  :  “  Let  us  call  ourselves 
representatives  of  the  people !  ”  he  shouted.  For  this  ever  fatal  name  he 
claimed  the  kingly  sanction  :  “  I  hold  the  king’s  veto  so  necessary,”  said  the 
great  orator,  “  that,  if  he  had  it  not,  I  would  rather  live  at  Constantinople 
than  in  France.  Yes,  I  protest,  I  know  of  nothing  more  terrible  than  a  sover¬ 
eign  aristocracy  of  six  hundred  persons  who,  having  the  power  to  declare 
themselves  to-morrow  irremovable  and  the  next  day  hereditary,  would  end, 
like  the  aristocracies  of  all  countries  in  the  world,  by  swooping  down  upon 
everything.” 

An  obscure  deputy  here  suggested  during  the  discussion  the  name  of 
National  Assembly ,  often  heretofore  employed  to  designate  the  States-general  ; 
Sieyes  took  it  up,  rejecting  the  subtle  and  carefully  prepared  definitions  :  “  I 
am  for  the  amendment  of  M.  Legrand,”  said  he,  “  and  I  propose  the  title  of 


Girondists  on  the  road  to  the  Guillotine 
I).  Maillard.  See  page  275. 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVI. 


271 


1789J 

National  Assembly."  Four  hundred  and  ninety-one  voices  against  ninety 
adopted  this  simple  and  superb  title.  In  contempt  of  the  two  upper  orders 
of  the  State,  the  national  assembly  was  constituted.  The  decisive  step  was 
taken  toward  the  French  revolution. 

During  the  early  days,  in  the  heat  of  a  violent  discussion,  Barrere  had 
exclaimed,  “  You  are  summoned  to  recommence  history.”  It  was  an  arro¬ 
gant  mistake.  For  more  than  eighty  years  modern  France  has  been  prose¬ 
cuting  laboriously  and  in  open  day  the  work  which  had  been  slowly  forming 
within  the  dark  womb  of  olden  France.  In  the  almighty  hands  of  eternal 
God  a  people’s  history  is  interrupted  and  recommenced  never. 

Note:  The  history  of  M.  Guizot  ends  at  this  point,  and  the  succeeding  chapters  form  a  continua¬ 
tion  of  the  line  of  history  to  the  present  time,  prepared  with  much  care  from  the  most  reliable  sources. 

NOTE  ON  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTIONARY  KALENDAR. 

In  reading  the  French  historians  of  the  period  from  the  declaration  of  the  Republic  in  1792  to  the 
end  of  1805  we  find  the  dates  of  events  not  given  according  to  the  common  kalendar,  but  according  to 
the*  most  puzzling  of  all  systems  of  chronology,  the  Republican  kalendar  adopted  by  the  Convention. 
In  our  own  history  we  give  the  dates,  thus  found  in  French  writers,  according  to  the  Gregorian 
Kalendar;  but  it  may  be  useful  here  to  present  a  complete  view  of  the  Revolutionary  Kalendar  which 
view  we  adopt,  with  some  abridgment,  from  “The  English  Cyclopedia  of  Arts  and  Sciences.” 

The  Convention  decreed,  on  the  24th  of  November,  1793,  that  the  common  era  should  be  abolished 
in  all  civil  affairs:  that  the  new  French  era  should  commence  from  the  foundation  of  the  Republic, 
namely,  on  the  22d  of  September,  1792,  on  the  day  of  the  true  autumnal  equinox,  when  the  sun  entered 
Libra  at  9h  18m  30s  in  the  morning,  according  to  the  meridian  of  Paris ;  that  each  year  should  begin  at 
the  midnight  of  the  day  on  which  the  true  autumnal  equinox  falls ;  and  that  the  first  year  of  the  French 
Republic  had  begun  on  the  midnight  of  the  22d  of  September  and  terminated  on  the  midnight  between 
the  2 1st  and  22d  of  September,  1793.  To  produce  a  correspondence  between  the  seasons  and  the  civil 
year  it  was  decreed,  that  the  fourth  year  of  the  Republic  should  be  the  first  sextile,  or  leap  year ;  that  a 
sixth  complementary  day  should  be  added  to  it,  and  that  it  should  terminate  the  first  Franciade  ;  that 
the  sextile  or  leap-year,  which  they  called  an  Olympic  year,  should  take  place  every  four  years,  and 
should  mark  the  close  of  each  Franciade :  that  the  first,  second  and  third  centurial  years,  namely,  100, 
200,  and  300  of  the  Republic  should  be  common,  and  that  the  fourth  centurial  year,  namely,  400,  should 
be  sextile;  and  that  this  should  be  the  case  every  fourth  century  until  the  40th,  which  should  terminate 
with  a  common  year.  The  year  was  divided  into  twelve  months  of  thirty  days  each,  with  five  additional 
days  at  the  end,  which  were  celebrated  as  festivals,  and  which  obtained  the  name  of  “  Sansculottides.” 
Instead  of  the  months  being  divided  into  weeks,  they  consisted  of  three  parts,  called  decades,  of  ten 
days  each.  It  is,  however,  to  be  observed  that  the  French  Republicans  rarely  adopted  the  decades  in, 
dating  their  letters,  or  in  conversation,  but  used  the  number  of  the  day  of  each  month  of  their  kalendar. 
The  Republican  kalendar  was  first  used  on  the  26th  of  November,  1793,  and  was  discontinued  on  the  31st 
of  December,  1805,  when  the  Gregorian  was  resumed. 

The  decrees  of  the  National  Convention,  which  fixed  the  new  mode  of  reckoning,  were  both  vague 
and  insufficient.  A  French  work,  “  Concordance  des  Calendriers  Republicain  et  Gregorien,”  par  L. 
Rondonneau,  puts  every  day  of  every  year  opposite  to  its  day  of  the  Gregorian  kalendar.  It  is  to  actual 
usage  that  we  must  appeal  to  know  what  the  decrees  do  not  prescribe — namely,  the  position  of  the 
leap-years.  The  following  list,  made  from  the  work  above  mentioned,  must  be  used  as  a  correction  of 
the  usual  accounts,  in  which  the  position  of  the  leap-years  is  not  sufficiently  regarded. 


Sept. 

Sept. 

An  I. 

begins  22,  1792 

Sext.  IX. 

begins 

23,  1800 

II. 

“  22,  1793 

X. 

U 

23,  1801 

Sext.  III. 

“  22,  1794 

Sext.  XI. 

U 

23,  1802 

IV. 

“  23,  1795 

An  XII. 

u 

24,  1803 

V. 

“  22,  1796 

XIII. 

u 

23,  1804 

VI. 

“  22,  1797 

XIV. 

a 

23,  1805 

Sext.  VII. 

“  22,  1798 

ended  31st  December,  1805 

VIII. 

“  23,  1799 

XYI. 


THE  EEVOLUnONi-THE  REIGN  OF  TEIOR.-FALL 

OF  BOBESPIERRE. 


HE  excitement  was  at  its  height  when  the  National 


M  Assembly  proceeded  to  repeal  law  after  law,  and 

the  of  France.  The  bold 

J  declaration  of  the  inviolability  of  its  members  by  the 


Assembly  led  to  measures  of  retaliation  by  the  king. 
A  large  body  of  troops  were  ordered  in  readiness  and 


stationed  in  various  parts  of  the  city  of  Paris.  The 
ministry  was  dissolved  and  Necker  was  banished.  The  hesi¬ 
tation  of  the  king  at  the  outset  and  the  firm  stand  which  he 
afterward  took,  changing  again  at  the  immense  pressure  brought 
to  bear  upon  him,  were  all  disastrous  to  the  Royalists.  The 


L  clamors  of  the  National  Assembly,  urged  on  by  the  shouts  of 
the  infuriated  mob,  compelled  Louis  to  recall  his  banished 
IKp  minister,  Necker,  but  still  the  troops  were  under  arms.  The 
^  first  blood  shed  was  on  the  12th  of  July.  The  insurrection 
3?  now  assumed  the  proportions  of  a  revolution,  and  the  eve  of 


fearful  Reign  of  Terror  which  swept  over  France  had 


come.  Life  and  property  were  insecure  for  a  moment.  The  rabble  could 
not  bear  to  wait. 

The  National  Guards  were  convoked  on  the  13th  of  July.  All  Paris  was 
in  the  tumult  of  excitement.  Whenever  any  one  who  was  suspected  of  being 
unfavorable  to  the  change  made  his  appearance  on  the  street  the  shout  at 
once  arose,  “  Away  to  the  lamp,”  and  willing  hands  were  ready  to  execute 
the  sentence  by  hanging  the  poor  victim  to  the  nearest  lamp-post. 

On  the  14th  the  multitude,  headed  by  the  National  Guard,  rushed  to  the 
Bastile  and  completely  demolished  its  walls.  But  few  State  prisoners  were 
found  there,  for  Louis  XVI.  had  released  nearly  all  the  prisoners  held  by  his 
grandfather.  The  ranks  of  the  National  Guard  were  quickly  filled  with 
recruits  from  every  grade  of  the  third  estate.  The  excitement  rapidly  spread 
to  all  the  provinces,  and  very  soon  National  Guards  and  revolutionary  councils 
were  convoked  in  them. 

The  National  Assembly  began  with  a  high  hand,  and  on  the  4th  of 
August  the  members  passed  an  edict  abrogating  forever  all  feudal  and 


Capture  of  the  disguised  king  and  queen  (Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette)  by  the 

citizens  of  Varennes.  F.  Lix.  See  page  275. 


1794] 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


273 


manorial  rights,  and  they  at  the  same  time  gave  solemn  expression  of  their 
declaration  of  equal  rights.  Whereupon  the  royal  princes  and  all  the  nobles 
who  could  effect  their  escape  did  so.  The  royal  family  made  an  attempt  to 
follow  their  example,  but  did  not  succeed,  and  then  they  tried  to  conciliate 
the  people  by  a  feigned  assumption  of  republican  principles.  On  the  5th  of 
October  the  excited  rabble,  accompanied  by  numbers  of  the  National  Guard, 
surged  up  to  the  very  gates  of  the  palace  at  Versailles,  that  most  splendid  of 
palaces,  upon  which  Louis  XIV.  had  spent  so  much,  and  whose  iron  gates 
looked  down  the  long  avenue  of  trees  leading  from  Paris,  a  memorial  how 
little  pity  for  their  people  the  two  last  kings  had  had.  It  was  the  less  wonder 
that  the  mob  of  Paris  believed  that  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  had  the 
same  hard  hearts,  and  were  willingly  letting  them  starve.  They  came  and 
filled  the  courts  of  the  palace,  shouting  and  yelling  for  the  queen  to  show 
herself.  She  came  out  on  the  balcony,  with  her  daughter  of  twelve  years  old 
and  her  son  of  six.  “  No  children  !  ”  they  cried  ;  and  she  sent  them  back, 
and  stood,  fully  believing  that  they  would  shoot  her,  and  hoping  that  her 
death  might  content  them.  But  no  hand  was  raised,  and  night  came  on.  In 
the  night  they  were  seized  with  another  fit  of  fury,  and  broke  into  the 
queen’s  room,  from  which  she  had  but  just  escaped,  while  a  brave  lady  and 
two  of  her  guards  were  barring  the  outer  door. 

The  next  day  the  whole  family  were  taken  back  into  Paris,  while  the 
fishwomen  shouted  before  them,  “  Here  come  the  baker,  his  wife,  and  the 
little  baker’s  boy  !  ” 

The  king  and  his  family  were  compelled  to  reside  in  Paris,  whither  the 
Assembly  also  came.  Then  followed  two  years  of  vacillation  and  hesitation, 
in  which  Louis  XVI.  alternately  made  concession  to  the  National  Assembly 
and  cherished  hopes  of  escaping  from  its  surveillance ;  but  month  by  month 
witnessed  increased  humiliation  for  himself,  and  arrogance  on  the  part  of 
those  who  surrounded  him.  In  the  mean  time  the  Assembly  were  repeating 
the  most  solemn  enactments  and  retraction  of  various  constitutional  schemes. 

Mirabeau  had  been  active  in  the  formation  of  the  National  Guard,  but  in 
some  of  the  conflicts  which  followed  he  sacrificed  his  popularity  in  his  efforts 
to  maintain  the  throne.  The  more  that  the  revolutionary  frenzy  seized  the 
people  the  more  decided  was  his  progress  of  extreme  measures,  but  he 
found  it  difficult  to  maintain  constitutional  liberty  at  the  same  time  against 
the  friends  of  the  old  regime  and  the  extreme  revolutionists.  But  Mirabeau 
was  in  a  position  which  demanded  recognition  from  the  king.  Louis  was  for 
a  long  time  unwilling  to  enter  upon  negotiations  with  one  so  disreputable,  but 
finally  he  was  compelled  to  invite  Mirabeau  to  enter  his  ministry.  No  sooner 
did  this  become  known  than  a  most  violent  opposition  arose,  and  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  the  most  opposite  parties  united  in  passing  a  decree  through  the 
National  Assembly,  November  7th,  1789,  forbidding  a  deputy  from  receiving 
an  appointment  as  minister.  From  this  time  Mirabeau  vainly  strove  to 
preserve  the  essential  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  He  continued  to  struggle 
against  the  revolution  and  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  king  and  his  revolu- 
18 


274 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


[1789 


tionary  subjects.  He  was  nevertheless  elected  president  of  the  club  of  the 
Jacobins  in  December,  1790,  and  in  February,  1791,  he  was  made  president  of 
the  National  Assembly.  In  both  of  these  positions  he  displayed  unusual 
activity  and  unceasing  energy.  But  his  boldness  and  personal  exertions 
began  to  tell  upon  his  strength,  and  he  soon  fell  into  a  condition  of  physical 
and  mental  weakness  from  which  he  never  rallied.  He  died  April  2d,  1 79 1  y 
and  his  body  was  interred  with  great  pomp  in  the  church  of  St.  Genevieve, 
the  Pantheon ,  but  it  was  afterward  removed  to  make  room  for  that  of  Marat. 

JACOBINS : — This  was  a  club  composed  originally  of  members  of  the  States- 
general  who  were  of  revolutionary  tendency,  although  holding  very  different 
shades  of  opinion.  The  Jacobins  began  to  acquire  importance  at  the  time  the 
National  Assembly  was  removed  from  Versailles.  After  this  they  met  in  a 
hall  of  the  former  Jacobin  convent  from  which  it  took  its  name,  which  was 
at  first  a  term  of  reproach  given  by  its  enemies.  The  name  which  it  had 
adopted  for  itself  was  that  of  Society  of  Friends  of  the  Constitution.  Persons 
not  connected  with  the  National  Assembly  were  now  admitted  to  the  club. 
It  came  to  exercise  a  great  amount  of  influence  in  the  agitation  which  had  its 
head  and  life  in  the  capital,  and  this  was  extended  over  the  provinces  by  the 
aid  of  affiliated  societies.  Its  power  developed  rapidly,  until  it  grew  to  be 
greater  than  that  of  the  Assembly.  It  had  at  one  time  twelve  hundred 
branch  societies  in  all  parts  of  France.  The  National  Assembly  dissolved 
itself  in  September,  1791,  and  the  Jacobins  had  great  influence  in  the  election 
of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  which  succeeded  the  National.  The  great  events 
which  followed  each  other  in  such  rapid  succession  were  in  a  remarkable 
degree  determined  by  the  voice  of  this  club.  The  people  came  at  last  to 
watch  its  proceedings  with  more  interest  than  those  of  the  Assembly.  But  in 
September,  1792,  the  Jacobins  reached  the  zenith  of  their  power.  The  agita¬ 
tion  for  the  death  of  the  king  ;  the  downfall  of  the  Girondists  ;  the  excite¬ 
ment  of  the  lower  classes  against  the  bourgeoisie ,  or  middle  classes,  and  the 
entire  reign  of  terror  over  the  whole  of  France  were  the  work  of  this  club. 
The  fall  of  Robespierre  on  the  28th  of  July,  1794,  gave  the  death-blow  to  the 
Jacobins  :  after  this  they  sought  in  vain  to  regain  their  former  prestige.  The 
magic  of  the  name  was  destroyed  forever,  but  the  law  of  October  16th 
forbade  the  affiliation  of  clubs,  and  November  9th  of  the  same  year  saw  the 
doors  of  the  club  closed  for  the  last  time.  Soon  after  this  their  place  of 
meeting  was  entirely  demolished. 

GIRONDISTS: — This  was  the  name  given  to  the  moderate  republican  party 
during  this  time.  The  Legislative  Assembly  met  in  October,  1791,  and  then  the 
Girondists  had  chosen  as  their  representatives  the  advocates  Vergniaud,  Gaudet, 
Gensonne,  Grangeuve,  and  a  young  merchant  named  Ducos,  all  of  whom  made 
their  influence  felt  upon  the  Assembly  by  their  historical  power  and  political 
principles,  which  were  based  upon  a  hazy  notion  of  Grecian  republicanism. 
They  were  joined  by  the  Brissot  party  and  some  members  of  the  Center,  so 
that  they  numbered  a  majority.  Their  first  efforts  were  directed  against  the 
policy  of  the  court,  and  such  was  their  power  that  Louis  was  compelled  to 


Attempted  suicide  of  Robespierre  iu  the  hall  of  the  Assembly 

F.  Lix.  Page  274. 


>794] 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


275 


invite  the  more  moderate  of  the  party,  Roland,  Dumouriez,  Claviere  and 
Servan  to  the  ministry.  But  he  afterward  dismissed  them,  and  this  act  led  to 
the  insurrection  of  June  20th,  1792.  When  the  Jacobins  came  to  power  the 
Girondists  were  forced  to  take  a  conservative  position,  but  their  eloquence 
could  not  avail  out  of  the  Assembly  to  stay  the  fearful  storm  which  culmi¬ 
nated  in  the  massacres  of  September.  All  their  efforts  failed,  and  at  last  they 
tried  to  impeach  Marat,  who  induced  the  various  sections  of  Paris  to  demand 
the  expulsion  of  the  Girondists  ;  and  the  demand,  backed  up  by  one  hundred 
and  seventy  pieces  of  artillery,  could  not  be  resisted.  Thirty  of  them  were 
arrested,  but  a  majority  had  escaped  to  the  provinces.  There  was  an  uprising 
of  the  people  of  Eure,  Calvados  and  Brittany  in  their  defense,  and  a  federal 
army ,  under  command  of  General  Wimpfen,  was  raised  to  rescue  Paris  from 
the  hands  of  the  mob.  Movements  in  their  behalf  were  commenced  in  other 
provinces.  The  progress  of  this  was,  however,  stopped  by  the  activity  and 
energy  of  the  convention.  July  20th,  1782,  the  revolutionary  army  took 
possession  of  Caen,  the  chief  station  of  the  insurgents,  and  forced  the  way 
into  other  towns.  Then  commenced  an  awful  retribution  ;  Amar,  the  mouth¬ 
piece  of  the  committee  of  public  safety,  accused  them,  before  the  convention 
on  October  1st,  1793,  of  conspiring  with  Louis  XVI.,  the  Royalists,  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  Lafayette  and  Pitt,  and  it  was  ordered  that  they  be  brou  ght 
before  the  revolutionary  tribunes.  They  were  put  on  trial  October  24th.  The 
Girondists  defended  themselves  so  ably  at  the  trial  that  the  convention 
decreed  the  closing  of  the  investigation  on  the  30th.  Twenty-one  of  them  were 
sentenced  to  death,  and  all  except  one — Valaze,  who  stabbed  himself — per¬ 
ished  by  the  guillotine.  Nine  others  were  afterward  guillotined  ;  five  others 
ascended  the  scaffold  at  Bordeaux  ;  two  at  Brives  ;  one  each  at  Periguerex 
and  Rochelle  ;  four  committed  suicide,  viz.,  Rebecqui  drowned  himself, 
Petion  and  Buyot  stabbed  themselves,  and  Condorcet  took  poison.  Sixteen 
months  later,  after  the  overthrow  of  Robespierre,  the  outlawed  Girondists 
still  living  presented  themselves  in  the  convention. 

To  return  after  this  digression  to  the  line  of  our  narrative.  The  attempted 
flight  of  Louis  XVI.  and  his  queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  ended  in  their  capture 
June  2 1st,  1791,  after  which  time  all  the  acts  of  the  king  were  done  under 
compulsion  of  the  National  Assembly.  He  sanctions  a  national  constitution 
September  15th,  while  a  prisoner.  The  coalition  against  France  was  com¬ 
menced  in  1792,  and  in  June  the  war  began  and,  as  might  be  expected  in  the 
condition  of  the  nation,  the  Prussians  and  their  allies  were  everywhere  victori¬ 
ous.  Their  army  under  the  command  of  the  duke  of  Brunswick  had  captured 
Longroy  and  Verdun  from  the  French  and  were  advancing  upon  Paris,  driving 
the  army  of  Dumouriez  before  them.  When  Kellermann,  who  commanded 
the  army  of  the  Rhine,  heard  of  the  critical  condition  of  this  army  he  hastened 
to  the  relief  of  his  comrade,  and  with  a  force  of  twenty-two  thousand  men 
arrested  the  attack  of  the  Prussians  at  Valmy.  The  latter  took  possession 
of  the  heights  of  La  Lune  and  at  once  opened  a  vigorous  cannonade  upon 
the  French.  There  was  not  much  gained  on  either  side,  but  the  moral  effect 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


[1789 


276 

of  the  battle,  or  skirmish,  was  of  more  effect  in  arousing  the  spirits  of  the  re¬ 
publicans  than  the  immediate  effects  of  the  battle  would  seem  to  warrant.  It 
was  the  first  success  of  the  republican  forces  with  a  foreign  foe.  General  Kel- 
lermann  was  on  allegation  of  treason  against  the  republic ;  he  was  imprisoned 
for  ten  months  and  only  released  by  the  fall  of  Robespierre.  The  repeated 
defeats  of  the  French  arms  was  visited  upon  poor  Louis,  who  was  at  once 
confined  with  his  family  in  the  Temple.  But  in  September  the  Convention, 
fearing  the  approach  of  the  Prussians,  who  had  advanced  as  far  as  Campagne, 
dissolved  itself.  All  Paris  was  in  a  terrible  state  of  excitement.  In  Decem¬ 
ber,  the  king  was  brought  to  trial  and  called  to  answer  for  repeated  acts  of 
treason  against  the  republic.  On  the  20th  of  January,  1793,  Louis  XVI.  was 
-condemned  to  death  and  was  beheaded  the  next  day.  At  ten  o'clock  in 
the  morning  he  was  conducted  to  the  guillotine,  accompanied  by  an  Irish  cler¬ 
gyman,  the  Abbe  Edgeworth,  whom  he  charged  to  take  care,  if  his  family  was 
ever  restored  to  the  throne,  that  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  avenge  his 
death.  Extensive  preparation  was  made  to  prevent  any  attempt  at  rescue. 
As  the  executioner  had  bound  him  Louis  burst  away  and  exclaimed,  “  French¬ 
men,  I  die  innocent !  I  pray  that  my  blood  come  not  on  France."  The  rolling 
of  drums  drowned  his  voice,  but  the  abbe  cried  out,  “  Son  of  St.  Louis,  ascend 
to  the  skies." 

After  the  death  of  her  husband,  the  widowed  queen  remained  with 
her  children  in  the  Temple,  cheered  by  the  pity  and  kindness  of  Madame 
Elizabeth,  until  the  poor  little  prince — a  gentle,  but  spirited  boy  of  eight — was 
taken  from  them,  and  shut  up  in  the  lower  rooms,  under  the  charge  of  a 
brutal  wretch  (a  shoemaker)  named  Simon,  who  was  told  that  the  boy  was  not 
to  be  killed  or  guillotined,  but  to  be  “got  rid  of" — namely,  tormented  to 
death  by  bad  air,  bad  living,  blows,  and  rude  usage.  Not  long  after  August 
1st,  Marie  Antoinette  was  taken  to  a  dismal  chamber  in  the  Conciergerie 
prison,  and  there  watched  day  and  night  by  National  Guards,  until  she  too 
was  brought  to  trial,  and  sentenced  to  die  October  16th,  eight  months  after 
her  husband.  Gentle  Madame  Elizabeth  was  likewise  put  to  death,  and  only 
the  two  children  remained,  shut  up  in  separate  rooms  ;  but  the  girl  was  better 
off  than  her  brother,  in  that  she  was  alone,  with  her  little  dog,  and  had  no  one 
who  made  a  point  of  torturing  her. 

After  the  death  of  the  king  in  January,  1793,  revolts  broke  out  in  all 
parts  of  France.  On  the  1st  of  February  war  was  declared  against  England, 
which  entered  into  a  second  coalition  with  Holland,  Spain,  Naples,  and  the 
German  States  against  the  republic.  An  insurrection  broke  out  in  La  Vendee 
at  the  same  time  under  Cathelineau,  Larochejacquelein,  the  Chouans  and 
others.  The  second  named  signaled  himself  by  many  heroic  acts  and  gained 
success  against  the  republicans  for  some  time,  but  was  finally  defeated 
December  13th,  1793,  and  escaped  with  difficulty.  This  insurrection  was 
finally  put  down  by  General  Hoche,  who  was  able  by  moderate  and  prudent 
steps  to  suppress  the  revolt  and  gain  the  entire  district.  The  proscription  of 
the  Girondists  followed,  as  we  have  already  related,  and  the  reign  of  terror 


1 


The  enthroned  Goddess  of  Reason  is  carried  into  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame. 

M.  Mueller.  Page  277. 


1794] 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


2  77 


began  the  31st  of  May,  1793.  Marat,  Danton,  and  Robespierre  were  the 
bloody  triumivrate  who  upheld  this  merciless  and  insatiable  terrorism  all  over 
France.  The  human  mind  turns  with  a  shudder  from  the  fearful  sights 
presented. 

Meanwhile  the  guillotine  was  every  day  in  use.  Cart-loads  were  carried 
from  the  prisons — nobles,  priests,  ladies,  young  girls,  lawyers,  servants,  shop¬ 
keepers,  everybody  whom  the  savage  men  who  were  called  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety  chose  to  condemn.  There  were  guillotines  in  almost  every 
town ;  but  at  Nantes  the  victims  were  drowned,  and  at  Lyons  they  were 
placed  in  a  square  and  shot  down  with  grape  shot. 

Moreover,  all  churches  were  taken  from  the  faithful.  A  wicked  woman 
was  called  the  Goddess  of  Reason,  and  carried  in  a  car  to  the  great  cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame,  where  she  was  enthroned.  Sundays  were  abolished,  and 
every  tenth  day  was  kept  instead,  and  Christianity  was  called  folly  and 
superstition  ;  in  short,  the  whole  nation  was  given  up  to  the  most  horrible 
frenzy  against  God  and  man.  The  victims  of  the  guillotine  could  be 
numbered  by  thousands.  The  leaders  of  the  convention  seemed  to  be 
insatiable,  and  each  in  turn  became  jealous  of  the  others.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  one,  we  will  now  devote  a  little  space  to  the  other  two. 

Jean  Paul  Marat  was  one  of  the  most  detestable  and  infamous  characters 
of  this  period.  He  was  born  in  1744.  The  Revolution  brought  him  into 
prominence,  and  he  had  unbounded  influence  over  the  lower  classes.  It  was 
owing  to  him  that  the  massacre  of  September,  1792,  was  characterized  with  so 
much  atrocity.  In  the  midst  of  this  he  was  elected  to  the  Convention  ;  but 
when  he  first  appeared  he  was  met  with  expressions  of  abhorrence ;  no  one 
would  sit  near  him,  and  when  he  rose  to  speak  there  was  the  utmost  confusion. 
No  falsehood  was  too  monstrous  and  no  deed  too  atrocious  for  him.  His 
Journal  which  he  had  been  publishing  was  now  called  the  Journal  de  la 
Republique ,  and  was  more  ferocious  and  blood-thirsty  than  ever.  He  demanded 
two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  heads,  and  defended  his  demand  in  the 
Convention,  saying  that  if  this  was  not  granted  he  would  demand  more.  He' 
was  most  bitter  against  the  king,  and  at  his  trial  called  upon  the  people  to 
slay  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  adherents  of  the  old  regime,  and  to  reduce 
the  Convention  to  one-fourth  its  numbers.  He  obtained  the  enregister  of  the 
act  by  which  four  hundred  thousand  suspected  persons  were  imprisoned. 
The  rash,  unscrupulous  and  bloody  wretch  was  associated  with  his  peers  in 
crime.  But  he,  the  most  vindictive  and  perhaps  the  basest  of  the  three,  was 
the  first  to  fall ;  for  on  July  13th,  1 793,  he  was  stabbed  to  the  heart  by  a  girl 
named  Charlotte  Corday,  who  hoped  thus  to  end  these  horrors  ;  but  the  other 
two  continued  their  work  of  blood,  till  Robespierre  grew  jealous  of  Danton, 
and  had  him  guillotined. 

This  young  lady  was  descended  from  a  noble  family,  but  she  early 
imbibed  revolutionary  principles.  Her  soul  revolted  at  the  horrors  which  she 
saw  enacted  around  her,  and  she  resolved  to  rid  France  of  one  of  the  three 
leaders ;  she  was  undecided  whether  Robespierre  or  Marat.  It  is  said  that 


278 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


[1789 

while  she  was  debating  which  one  she  should  strike  the  latter  issued  his 
demand  for  more  heads,  and  by  this  token  she  decided  which  should  be  her 
victim.  After  the  deed  she  was  at  once  arrested  and  dragged  before  the 
tribunal,  where  she  boldly  avowed  the  act  and  defended  it.  Of  course  she 
was  condemned  to  death,  and  on  the  17th  of  July  sent  to  the  guillotine. 
Her  great  beauty  added  to  the  interest  which  surrounded  her  heroic  act. 
This  event  was  followed  by  some  of  the  worst  atrocities  which  disgraced  the 
French  name;  streams  of  blood  as  it  was  said  to  the  manes  of  Marat.  His 
likeness,  painted  with  gaping  wounds,  was  hung  up  in  the  Convention,  and  his 
housekeeper,  whom  he  had  married  “  one  fine  day  in  the  presence  of  the  sun,” 
was  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  State.  His  body  was  granted  a  place 
in  the  Pantheon,  but  was  cast  out  again  on  November  8th,  1795,  and  his 
picture  removed  from  the  Convention. 

The  remaining  one  of  the  infamous  triumvirate  was  Georgies-Jacques 
Danton,  who  was  born  in  1759.  When  the  revolution  broke  out  he  was 
an  advocate,  with  no  reputation  except  one  for  dissolute  habits.  The 
fierce,  half-savage  character  of  the  man  drew  him  at  once  into  the  vortex 
of  the  commotion ;  Mirabeau  quickly  detected  his  genius  and  hastened 
to  attach  him  to  himself.  The  political  role  of  Danton  began  with  the 
flight  of  the  king  and  his  return.  On  the  17th  of  July  he  and  others 
gathered  the  people  in  the  Champ-de-Mars  and  goaded  them  on  to  demand 
the  deposition  of  the  king. 

Sometime  after  this  he  became  procureiir-siibstitut  for  the  city  of 
Paris.  The  court  found  it  could  not  frighten  him  and  undertook  to 
bribe  him.  With  what  success  it  is  now  impossible  to  say,  but  the 

weight  of  evidence  points  to  his  venality.  However  it  was,  he  soon 
became  the  more  implacable  of  royalty  than  before.  Danton  was  the 
man  whose  harangues  excited  the  rabble  to  their  infuriated  attack  upon 
the  Tuileries  on  the  night  of  that  fatal  10th  of  August,  and  led  to  the 
butchery  of  the  Swiss  guard.  He  was  immediately  promoted  to  the 

office  of  minister  of  justice,  which  gave  him  such  commanding  influence. 
He  was  the  incarnate  spirit  of  the  revolution,  and  manifested  the  same 
heroic  audacity  in  the  presence  of  danger  from  without  and  the  same 

maniacal  terror  at  the  appearance  of  danger  from  within.  It  was  his 

impassioned  eloquence  which  restored  their  spirit  to  the  panic-stricken 
populace  when  the  Prussians  were  thundering  at  the  very  gates  of  Paris. 
He  mounted  the  rostrum  and  in  a  speech  of  tremendous  power  stirred 
the  very  souls  of  his  audience..  In  a  few  weeks  no  less  than  fourteen 
republican  armies  were  raised,  equipped,  and  ready  to  repel  with  unex¬ 
ampled  bravery  the  entire  allied  forces.  On  the  very  evening  on  which 
Danton  spoke,  September  2d,  was  the  beginning  of  the  September  mas¬ 
sacres.  Danton  thanked  the  assassins  not  as  the  minister  of  justice, 
but  the  minister  of  the  revolution.  When  he  was  elected  as  one  of  the 
deputies  of  Paris  he  at  once  resigned  his  office  as  minister  and  hastened 
to  the  trial  of  the  king.  He  showed  his  character  when  he  replied  to 


Charlotte  Corday  murders  Marat  while  in  the  bath. 
F.  Lix.  Page  278, 


1 


' 


£ 


* 


? 

» 

! 

i 


1794] 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION. 


279 


one  of  hu  friends  in  the  convention,  who  said  that  they  could  not  legally 
try  the  king.  “You  are  right,  so  we  will  not  try  him  but  we  kill  him." 
On  the  10th  of  May  he  established  “the  extraordinary  criminal  tribunal,” 
and  was  also  president  of  the  committee  of  public  safety.  He  now  set  about 
the  woik  of  crushing  the  Girondists;  how  well  he  succeeded  we  have 
already  shown. 

For  some  strange  reason  he  began  after  this  to  display  some  intimations 
of  returning  humanity :  he  disapproved  of  the  guillotine,  and  some  other 
gleams  of  feeling  lost  him  the  respect  of  the  Jacobins.  There  came  a  clash 
between  him  and  Robespierre  ;  an  attempt  was  made  to  reconcile  them,  but 
after  an  interview  they  parted  on  worse  terms  than  ever.  He  had  become 
convinced  that  the  revolution  was  a  sham,  and  conscious  of  his  inherent  power 
he  sank  into  apathy.  He  declared  that  his  enemies  dared  not  lift  a  finger 
against  him.  He  was  arrested  on  the  night  of  the  30th  of  March,  1794, 
brought  before  the  same  tribunal  he  had  instituted,  and  by  them  condemned 
to  death.  He  was  guillotined  on  the  5th  of  April.  He  foretold  the  down¬ 
fall  of  Robespierre  and  called  him  “an  infamous  poltroon,”  and  said,  “  I  was 
the  only  man  who  could  save  him.” 

The  duke  of  Orleans,  Louis  Philippe  Joseph,  was  tried  before  the  tribunal 
in  Marseilles  with  all  the  Bourbons,  but  was  acquitted  from  the  charge  of 
high  treason.  He  was  at  once  seized  and  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  Paris, 
by  which  he  was  condemned  to  death  November  6th,  1793,  and  carried  to 
the  guillotine  the  same  day.  Madame  Roland  was  arrested  on  the  same 
night  that  her  husband  made  his  escape  from  Paris  to  Rouen  and  imprisoned 
in  the  Abbaye.  A  more  dauntless  and  intrepid  spirit  never  entered  its  enclos¬ 
ure.  She  was  released  on  the  24th  of  June,  but  was  at  once  re-arrested,  with¬ 
out  the  shadow  of  accusation,  and  taken  to  Saint  Pelagie.  Thence  she  was. 
summoned  on  the  first  of  November — having  been  employed  in  the  mean  while 
in  writing  her  memoirs — to  the  revolutionary  tribunal  and  sentenced  to  the 
guillotine.  The  scaffold  was  erected  at  the  foot  of  a  statue  of  liberty,  and  she 
exclaimed,  “  Oh,  Liberty,  what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name  !  ” 

With  one  other  name  we  will  come  to  the  close  of  the  reign  of  terror. 
He  is  the  Count  Barras,  Paul-Jean-Frangois-Nicolas.  He  was  a  prominent 
character  in  the  period  of  which  we  are  writing.  He  was  born  in  1755*  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  revolution  he  entered  into  the  contest.  He  was  a  deputy 
for  the  third  estate  in  that  famous  States-general  of  1789.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  the  assault  upon  the  Tuileries,  after  which  he  received  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  administrator  of  the  department  of  war  and  then  of  the  county  of 
Nice.  He  promptly  voted  for  the  execution  of  the  king  and  declared  against 
the  Girondists.  The  siege  of  Toulon  and  the  triumph  of  the  revolutionary 
party  were  in  a  great  measure  due  to  his  activity.  And  after  the  victory  he 
shared  in  all  the  bloody  acts  which  were  adopted.  Robespierre  and  the  other 
terrorists  hated  him,  and  it  was  he  who  contributed  to  their  final  overthrow 
more  than  any  one  other  man.  The  Convention  appointed  him  commander-in¬ 
chief  and  virtually  made  him  dictator  for  the  time  being.  It  was  while  hold- 


28o 


FRANCE.— THE  DIRECTORY. 


[1794 


ing  this  high  office,  and  on  the  very  day  which  beheld  the  fall  of  his  rival,  that 
he  visited  the  Temple  where  the  young  prince  Louis  XVII.  was  confined  and 
ordered  his  better  treatment.  Then  he  hurried  to  the  Palais  of  Justice  and 
suspended  the  execution  of  the  prisoners  who  were  there  condemned  to 
death. 


XVII. 


UT  Robespierre  was  dead,  and  the  reign  of  terror  was 
\  over.  The  reaction  had  set  in  and  already  the  eyes  of 
^  France,  if  not  of  all  Europe,  were  being  dazzled  by  the 
brilliant  exploits  of  the  young  Corsican,  Napoleon 
Bonaparte. 

He  was  born  on  the  15th  of  August,  1769,  and  at  the 
age  of  ten  entered  the  military  school  at  Brienne,  as  a 
king’s  pensioner.  During  the  five  years  he  remained  here 
he  displayed  a  wonderful  aptitude  for  mathematics, 
history,  and  geography,  but  a  decided  disinclination  for  merely 
verbal  and  ornamental  studies.  He  was  taciturn  and  reserved  in 
his  manner,  owing,  doubtless,  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  foreigner 
and  learned  French  after  he  came  to  the  school.  He  was  also 
poor  and  unacquainted  with  French  manners.  In  October,  1784, 
he  went  to  the  government  military  academy  to  complete  his 
studies  for  the  army,  and  in  a  year  received  his  commission  as  a 
sub-lieutenant  in  the  artillery  regiment  of  de  la  Fere.  Napoleon 
was  serving  in  the  garrison  at  Valence.  He  adopted  the  popular 
side  in  his  usual  quiet  and  undemonstrative  manner.  The  boisterous 
enthusiasm  and  the  noisy  zeal  of  his  associates  were  repulsive  to  him. 
Napoleon  was  in  Paris  with  his  friend  Bourrienne  when  the  riotous  attack 
was  made  upon  the  Tuileries,  on  that  infamous  20th  of  July.  When  the 
poor  king  Louis  was  forced  to  don  the  red  cap,  Bonaparte  quietly  remarked  : 
“It  is  all  over  henceforth  with  that  man.”  He  went  back  to  his  lodgings 
more  thoughtful  and  morose  than  usual. 

When  the  bloody  scenes  of  the  10th  of  August  had  been  enacted  he 
returned  to  his  home  at  Corsica  where  General  Paoli  was  in  the  chief 
command.  This  general  revolted  at  the  cruel  September  massacres,  and  in 
consequence  threw  off  his  allegiance  and  sought  the  aid  of  England. 
Napoleon,  with  others  who  were  active  but  unsuccessful  in  opposing  Paoli, 
were  obliged  to  flee  from  Corsica. 

At  this  time  he  petitioned  for  employment  by  the  Convention  and  was 


The  mob  forcing  Louif  XVI.  to  don  the  cap  ot  the  .Jacobins 

F.  Lix.  Page  280. 


/ 


\ 

> 


r 


i8oo] 


FRANCE.— THE  DIRECTORY. 


281 


appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  artillery,  and  sent  to  aid  in  the  capture  of 
Toulon.  It  was  owing  entirely  to  his  genius  and  stratagem  that  the  city 
capitulated  on  the  19th  of  December,  1793.  In  the  following  February  he 
was  promoted  to  brigadier-general  and  assigned  to  command  of  artillery  in 
“the  army  of  the  South.”  He  afterward  went  to  Genoa  to  inspect  the 
fortifications,  and  report  upon  the  feeling  of  the  inhabitants.  At  the  opening 
of  the  year  1795  he  was  again  in  Paris  seeking  employment  for  his  sword, 
and  at  one  time  seriously  thought  of  offering  his  services  to  the  sultan  of 
Turkey,  from  sheer  ennui  at  his  long  inactivity.  A  wide-spread  reaction  had 
taken  hold  of  France  after  the  death  of  Robespierre,  and  the  people  were 
becoming  weary  of  the  long-continued  bloodshed,  and  there  arose  a  new 
form  of  government.  This  consisted  of  a  legislative  organization,  divided, 
into  two  bodies  :  1st,  the  council  of  five  hundred,  whose  power  was  to  frame 
the  laws,  and  the  council  of  the  ancients,  whose  duty  it  was  to  pass  them.  The 
executive  department  of  government  was  entrusted  to  five  members  chosen 
from  these  two  councils,  and  had  its  seat  at  the  Luxembourg.  The  five 
chosen  were  Lepeaux,  Letourneur,  Rewbel,  Barras,  and  Carnot.  This  was  the 
famous  Directory,  which  came  to  power  in  a  time  of  intensest  peril  for  France. 
The  country  was  at  this  time  surrounded  with  most  powerful  enemies,  and 
within  distrust,  malice,  and  discontent  made  the  administration  of  govern¬ 
ment  well  nigh  hopeless.  She  was  saved  from  the  greed  of  foreign  powers  by 
the  matchless  bravery  of  her  soldiers,  and  if  the  Directory  had  all  been  as 
patriotic  and  firm  as  some  of  them  were  she  might  have  been  saved  from 
internal  spoliation  by  her  own  sons.  Their  policy  at  home  was  on  the  whole 
most  lamentable.  The  same  demoralization  which  had  characterized  the 
times  of  Danton  and  his  co-operators  prevailed  at  this  time,  and  the  effort  of 
the  honest  minority  to  serve  the  country  was  futile.  Barras  was  a  fitting 
representative  of  the  turpitude  of  the  hour,  and  he  set  the  example  in  all  the 
excesses  of  the  times.  It  became  painfully  evident  that  France  could  not  be 
reconstructed  by  the  fag-end  of  the  revolution.  There  was  now  an  imperative 
demand  for  a  power  and  skill  that  had  been  disciplined  away  from  the 
unhealthy  atmosphere  of  the  metropolis,  to  accomplish  this  herculean  task. 
The  thoughts  of  a  patriot,  Abbe  Sieyes,  were  directed  to  the  army,  where  a 
host  of  new  and  brilliant  names  were  now  rising,  Hoche,  Joubert,  Brune, 
Kleber,  Desaix,  Massena,  Moreau,  Bernadotte,  Augereau,  and  Bonaparte.  The 
abbe  made  known  his  plan  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Directory,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  consulate,  which  was  in  fact  only  a  monarchy  under  the 
thin  disguise  of  a  republican  form  of  government.  It  was  propounded  first 
to  Moreau,  who  was  startled  by  its  audacity,  and  then  to  Angereau,  who  could 
not  comprehend  it,  and  lastly  to  Bonaparte  on  his  return  from  Egypt,  who 
admired  it  and  fell  into  the  plan,  with  what  success  we  shall  hereafter  see. 
The  Directory  was  a  government  of  weakness,  immorality  and  intrigue.  But 
under  it  there  was  a  general  amnesty,  and  the  outward  order  of  affairs  was 
resumed,  and  upon  the  whole,  after  the  reign  of  terror,  it  may  have  been  the 
best  under  the  circumstances.  Peace  was  concluded  in  1795  with  Spain  and 


282 


FRANCE.— THE  DIRECTORY. 


[1794 


Prussia.  On  the  13th  of  October,  1795,  there  was  a  rising  of  the  arrondisse- 
ments  of  Paris,  and  there  were  thirty  thousand  troops  ready  to  seize  the 
Tuileries,  in  which  the  Convention  held  its  meetings.  The  Directory  had 
entrusted  the  defense  of  the  Convention  to  Moreau,  but  he  had  failed  to 
meet  the  exigency  of  the  moment. 

Napoleon  had  seen  the  general  march  out  to  quell  the  insurgents,  and  as 
quickly  flee  in  cowardice  before  the  rabble.  He  hastened  to  the  Tuileries,  and 
with  calm  visage  and  undaunted  heart  watched  the  deliberations,  if  such  they 
might  be  termed,  of  the  terror-stricken  Convention.  Moreau  had  been  dis¬ 
missed  in  dishonor.  Resistance  seemed  to  be  useless.  It  was  now  eleven  at 
night,  and  all  was  consternation.  Barras  rose  and  broke  the  awful  stillness  of 
that  chamber.  “  I  know  the  man  who  can  defend  us,”  he  nervously  said,  “it 
is  the  young  Corsican  officer,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  whose  military  abilities  I 
witnessed  at  Toulon.  He  is  a  man  who  will  not  stand  upon  ceremony.” 
Napoleon  was  called  down  and  asked,  “Are  you  willing  to  undertake  the  de¬ 
fense  of  the  Convention  ?  ”  “  Y es,”  was  the  terse  reply.  They  were  surprised 

to  see  a  small,  slender,  pale-faced  youth  of  eighteen  before  them.  Hesitating 
a  moment,  the  president  continued  :  “  Are  you  aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
undertaking?”  With  his  eagle  glance  fixed  full  upon  his  questioner  the 
young  soldier  said,  “  Perfectly  ;  and  I  am  in  the  habit  of  accomplishing  what  I 
undertake!  But  I  must  be  entirely  untrammeled  by  the  Convention.”  When 
the  sun  rose  the  next  morning  the  Tuileries  appeared  like  an  entrenched 
camp.  Artillery  was  placed  to  command  every  approach  and  defend  the  cap¬ 
ital  from  the  attacks  of  the  infuriated  mobs.  The  armed  warriors,  black  and 
threatening,  poured  down  the  narrow  streets.  The  members  sat  in  silent  awe 
in  their  very  seats,  awaiting  the  attack  upon  whose  issue  so  much  depended. 
Five  thousand  against  thirty  thousand.  Napoleon,  with  his  guns  loaded  to 
the  muzzle,  was  ready  for  the  first  fire,  but  he  would  not  assume  the  respon¬ 
sibility  of  opening  the  contest.  He  did  not  wait  long;  the  first  volley  opened 
upon  the  handful  of  defenders.  It  was  the  signal  for  the  instantaneous  dis¬ 
charge  of  all  the  artillery,  which  belched  forth  its  slaughter  and  death  till  the 
pavements  were  filled  with  the  dead  and  wounded.  The  day  was  won,  and 
Napoleon  had  taken  the  first  advance  to  fame.  As  unmoved  as  if  he  had 
done  nothing  extraordinary,  he  returned  to  the  Tuileries.  Was  it  luck?  No, 
for  Moreau  had  the  same  opportunity  and  failed.  It  was  the  fact  that  the 
Corsican  had  pluck  as  well  as  luck. 

Bonaparte  was  at  once  appointed  commander  of  the  army  of  the  interior 
and  was  afterward  sent  to  Italy,  where  he  won  the  battles  of  Montenotte 
against  the  Austrians  April  12th,  1796,  and  Mondovi  April  22d,  in  which  he 
defeated  the  Sardinians  ;  then  followed  the  victory  of  Lodi  over  the  Austrian 
army  May  10th.  He  was  now  justly  regarded  as  the  hero  of  Italy.  Then 
Napoleon  hastily  entered  the  city  of  Milan  and  gave  up  all  the  northern  part 
of  Italy  to  the  demands  of  his  army.  Then  commenced  a  wholesale  trans¬ 
portation  of  specimens  of  Italian  art  to  satisfy  the  sight-seers  of  Paris.  This 
appears  to  show  the  barbaric  character  of  French  warfare.  The  Directory 


Napoleon  Bonaparte  putting  down  the  mob  against  the  Convention. 

Page  282. 


i8oo] 


FRANCE.— THE  DIRECTORY. 


283 


ordered  that  he  should  levy  contributions  on  all  the  States  that  he  had  freed, 
and,  according  to  his  own  account,  he  sent  to  France  not  less  than  fifty  mill¬ 
ion  florins. 

The  Austrians  made  an  attempt  to  dispossess  Napoleon  from  the  places 
he  had  taken.  An  army  of  sixty  thousand  compelled  him  to  raise  the  siege 
of  Mantua,  but  Marshal  Wurmser  was  himself  defeated  near  Castiglione  on 
the  5th  of  August,  and  again  at  Bassano,  September  8th.  In  consequence  of 
these  defeats  the  Austrian  was  forced  to  seek  shelter  in  Mantua,  with  only 
sixteen  thousand  left  of  the  sixty  thousand  with  which  he  entered  Italy.  The 
Austrians  then  sent  a  third  army  in  two  divisions  ;  one  of  thirty  thousand 
under  Marshal  Alvinzi  and  another  of  twenty  thousand  under  General  Davi- 
dowich.  This  was  a  terrible  campaign  for  Napoleon,  with  his  exhausted  troops 
he  was  fronted  by  two  fresh  armies  and  was  himself  disheartened.  At  first 
the  Austrians  were  successful,  but  after  a  severe  fight  of  three  days  at  Areola, 
November  17th,  they  were  defeated  by  the  French  general.  At  this  time  his 
dispatches  to  the  Directory  show  how  thoroughly  absorbed  he  was  in  the  ma¬ 
terial  welfare  of  France.  A  fourth  army  of  fifty  thousand  began  the  cam¬ 
paign  of  1797,  but  it  was  completely  routed  by  Napoleon  on  January  14th, 
and  but  a  little  while  after  Admiral  Wurmser  was  starved  into  surrender.  A 
fifth  army  under  the  archduke  Charles  was  forced  to  retreat  before  the  hero, 
and  Napoleon  had  a  design  of  marching  upon  Vienna,  and  he  actually  ap¬ 
proached  within  eight  days’  march  of  that  capital. 

The  Austrians  were  thoroughly  alarmed  and  made  proposals  for  peace, 
which  ended  in  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  which  was  signed  on  the  17th 
of  October,  1796. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  his  brilliant  talent  was  never  more  remark¬ 
ably  displayed  in  this  entire  campaign,  and  it  is  but  just  to  him  to  record 
that  he  used  his  utmost  endeavors  to  withstand  the  exorbitant  demands 
of  the  Directory,  and  from  all  the  vast  amounts  which  he  levied  on  the 
consigned  States  not  one  penny  was  devoted  to  his  own  use.  The  glory 
of  the  French  arms  was  established  abroad,  but  she  was  still  suffer¬ 
ing  under  the  distractions  at  home.  The  Directory  had  repudiated 
two-thirds  of  the  public  debt,  and  thus  ruined  the  commerce  of  France 
as  well  as  its  foreign  credit.  In  December,  1797,  Napoleon  returned  to 
France,  where  he  was  enthusiastically  received,  and  under  a  pretext  of 
invading  England  a  force  of  thirty  thousand  men  was  raised  and  he  was 
appointed  commander.  But  under  this  mask  an  expedition  for  Egypt  was 
fitted  out,  and  on  June  29th  he  landed  in  Alexandria.  At  this  period 
Turkey  was  at  peace  with  France,  and  this  invasion  of  a  dependency  of 
the  sultan  was  unwarrantable  and  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Europe.  It 
reminds  us  of  Eastern  rather  than  Western  warfare.  Alexandria  was  cap¬ 
tured  and  the  French  army  marched  on  Cairo.  The  Mamelukes  prepared 
to  resist  the  invasion,  but  at  “the  battle  of  the  Pyramids”  they  were 
totally  defeated  and  the  French  were  masters  of  Egypt.  Napoleon  entered 
the  capital  and  began  to  reorganize  the  civil  and  military  government  of 


284  FRANCE.— THE  CONSULATE.  [1800 

the  country.  But  on  the  2d  day  of  August,  Nelson,  the  English  admiral, 
completely  destroyed  the  fleet  at  Aboukir  bay,  and  so  cut  off  Napo¬ 
leon’s  communication  with  Europe.  A  month  after  the  sultan  declared 
war  against  him.  He  felt  compelled  to  go  elsewhere,  and  so  marched  his 
army  of  ten  thousand  men  across  the  desert,  and  on  the  9th  of  February, 
1799,  he  stormed  and  carried  Jaffa  after  a  heroic  resistance  by  the  Turkish 
army.  Then  he  marched  northward  and  attacked  Acre  on  the  17th.  Here 
his  victories  ended  and  he  was  obliged  to  retire  before  the  desperate 
bravery  and  obstinate  valor  of  old  Djezzer,  assisted  by  Sir  Sidney  Smith 
with  a  small  force  of  English  sailors  and  marines.  He  then  began  his 
retreat  to  Egypt  and  re-entered  Cairo,  June  14th.  In  the  mean  time  the 
sultan  had  raised  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  at  Aboukir,  which  was 
completely  routed  by  the  French  commander  July  25th.  But  the  posi¬ 
tion  of  Napoleon  was  far  from  being  comfortable,  and  he  resolved  to 
return  to  France.  He  had  heard  of  the  disasters  in  Italy  and  confusion 
in  Paris,  and  therefore  he  hurried  home.  He  barely  escaped  capture  by 
an  English  fleet,  but  finally  landed  at  Frejus  on  the  9th  of  October. 


XYIII. 


E  entered  at  once  into  the  movement  against  the 
Directory,  and  grasping  the  situation  led  the  move¬ 
ment  which  overthrew  the  government.  He,  with 
Sieyes  and  Roger  Ducos,  succeeded  in  being  nomi¬ 
nated  as  consuls.  In  the  early  part  of  1800  the 
new  Constitution  was  promulgated,  which,  though 
constitutional  upon  the  face,  in  fact  made  Bonaparte 
the  sole  executive.  He  at  once  displayed  a  most 


syo  consummate  ability  in  reorganizing  the  government,  to  which  he 
brought  a  systematic  efficiency  and  a  spirit  of  centralization 
2?  that  constituted  a  thoroughly  practical  administration.  In  a 
single  word  the  whole  power  was  now  in  the  hands  of  Napo¬ 
leon  and  the  French  nation  perfectly  idolized  him.  He  caused 
the  repeal  of  the  most  obnoxious  laws  of  the  Revolution ; 
reopened  the  churches  and  regulated  the  finances.  At  once 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation  was  insured.  In  the  latter  part 
of  January,  j8oo,  he  moved  to  the  Tuileries,  where  he  took  up 
his  residence.  The  French  were  thoroughly  tired  of  discord,  confusion  and 
revolution,  and  they  therefore  regarded  his  assumption  of  supreme  power 
with  entire  satisfaction.  But  Napoleon  was  well  aware  that  his  genius  was 


Napoleon  rallies  his  beaten  tioops  at  the  bridge  of  Areola. 
E.  Bayard.  See  page  288. 


FRANCE.— THE  CONSULATE. 


285 


1804] 

especially  adapted  to  military  operations,  so  he  remained  but  a  short  time 
in  France.  He  left  Moreau  in  command  of  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  and 
crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy.  He  began  this  wonderful  march  May  13th, 
1800,  and  before  the  Austrian  Melas  were  aware  of  his  presence  he 
entered  Milan,  June  2d.  In  twelve  days  he  fought  the  fiercely  contested 
and  decisive  battle  of  Merango,  which  compelled  the  Austrians  to  retire  for 
the  second  time  from  Lombardy.  Later  in  the  year  hostilities  recommenced, 
but  the  Austrians  were  beaten  in  Germany  by  Moreau  and  in  Italy  by  Bonaparte 
until  they  were  glad  to  sue  for  peace.  On  the  24th  of  December  an  attempt 
was  made  upon  Napoleon’s  life  by  the  means  of  an  infernal  machine.  The 
peace  of  Luneville  was  signed  on  the  9th  of  February,  1801,  and  France 
was  put  in  possession  of  all  the  territory  to  the  Rhine. 

England  was  the  only  country  that  refused  to  recognize  the  legality  of  the 
French  conquests  in  Italy,  and  it  was  not  until  March  27th,  1802,  that  the 
peace  of  Amiens  was  concluded  between  France,  Spain,  Holland  and  England. 
This  left  Napoleon  free  to  attend  to  schemes  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
France  and — himself.  These  were  nothing  less  than  to  make  her  the  control- 
ing  power  of  Europe  and  himself  the  powerful  master  and  the  founder  of  a 
new  dynasty.  He  adopted  measures  to  this  end  which  were  prudent,  ener¬ 
getic  and  persistent;  the  immediate  results  were  salutary  to  France,  but  at  the 
same  time  they  were  frequently  unjust,  unprincipled  and  criminal.  When  we 
consider  them  in  the  light  of  their  ultimate  effects  we  are  forced  to  regard 
them  as  execrable.  France  was  still  bleeding  from  internal  wounds,  and  it 
was,  first  of  all,  necessary  that  these  should  be  healed  and  the  scars  of  the 
conflict  removed.  This  could  only  be  done  by  a  conciliatory  policy  which 
should  unite  all  parties  and  antagonize  none.  The  first  consul  had  the  tact 
and  ability  to  do  this.  He  first  tranquilized  and  subjected  all  without  offend¬ 
ing  any.  This  was  accomplished  by  treating  all  with  equal  favor  and  identi¬ 
fying  himself  with  none.  By  this  means  Napoleon  was  able  to  gain  the 
confidence  and  the  gratitude  of  all  the  people.  He  busied  himself  in  superin¬ 
tending  the  drafting  of  a  civil  code  for  France.  All  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the 
nation  were  brought  together  under  the  presidency  of  Cambreres.  Napoleon 
took  frequent  part  in  their  deliberations.  The  result  of  their  work  was  con¬ 
tained  in  four  volumes,  The  Civil  Code  of  France,  Code  of  Procedure, 
Code  of  Instruction  in  Criminal  Law  and  Penal  Code,  all  of  which  are  vaguely 
termed  “The  Napoleon  Code.”  Attention  was  given  to  education,  manufac¬ 
tures  and  commerce,  but  he  desired  especially  to  have  an  energetic  and  active 
people.  He  brought  to  the  government  of  France  the  same  executive  ability 
that  he  displayed  in  the  army,  and  was  already  emperor  in  all  but  name.  He 
would  not  consent  to  any  independent  power  but  his  own,  and  muzzled  the 
press.  The  Concordat  between  the  Church  and  State  was  concluded  at  Paris, 
June  15th,  1801,  and  ratified  by  the  pope  April  7th,  1802.  By  this  the  arch¬ 
bishops  and  bishops  were  compelled  to  vacate  their  sees.  They  were  now 
and  henceforth  to  be  appointed  by  the  first  consul  and  receive  their  installa¬ 
tion  from  the  pope.  The  curates  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  bishops  and 


286 


FRANCE.— THE  CONSUTLATE. 


[1800 


ratified  by  the  government.  No  religious  enactment,  consecration  festival  or 
other  ceremony  could  be  performed  except  by  permission  of  the  government. 
The  Sabbath  was  to  be  observed,  and  in  all  France  there  must  be  only  one 
form  of  liturgy  and  of  catechism.  On  the  other  hand  the  government  was  to 
pay  for  the  support  of  the  clergy. 

Napoleon  was  now  ready  to  strike  at  the  very  central  point  of  the  revolu¬ 
tion,  the  idea  of  popular  liberty  and  the  equality  of  all  classes.  He  established 
the  “  Legion  of  Honor,”  and  at  once  constituted  a  privileged  class.  He  was 
advancing  with  rapid  strides  to  the  object  of  his  ambition.  There  arose  some 
popular  opposition,  but  the  first  consul  now  felt  himself  strong  enough  to 
defy  all  the  popular  clamor.  He  was  made  consul  for  life  August  2d,  1802, 
after  a  plebiscite,  and  out  of  3 , 5 77,3/9  votes  all  but  eleven  thousand  were 
cast  for  the  measure.  Two  days  after  (August  4th)  there  appeared  a  senatus- 
consult,  without  any  previous  consultation  with  the  legislative  body,  and  upon 
the  advice  of  the  council  of  State  changed  the  constitution  again.  This  was 
effected  without  any  show  of  resistance  from  the  people. 

The  peace  between  France  and  England  did  not  long  continue.  The 
policy  of  Napoleon  in  Italy  had  continually  irritated  the  English,  and  repeated 
remonstrances  proving  ineffectual  the  British  government  declared  war  against 
France  May  18th,  1803.  At  once  the  navy  of  England  began  to  scour  the 
seas  and  completely  paralyzed  the  commerce  of  France.  Napoleon  threatened 
an  invasion  of  England,  and  for  this  purpose  collected  a  large  army  at  Bou¬ 
logne.  He  so  completely  misunderstood  the  spirit  and  disposition  of  the 
English  nation  that  he  thought  that  he  would  be  welcomed  as  the  liberator  of 
the  people.  But  at  this  juncture  the  very  dangerous  conspiracy  against  him 
was  discovered,  and  led  to  one  of  the  most  despicable  acts,  if  not  the  blackest 
of  his  whole  career — the  murder  of  the  Duke  d’Enghien. 

This  conspiracy  of  the  Bourbon  princes  against  Napoleon  was  headed  by 
George  Cadoudal.  Pichegra  and  Moreau  had  succeeded  in  causing  an 
uprising  in  Brittany.  The  Duke  d’Enghien-  the  only  son  of  Prince  Henri  Louis 
Joseph,  had  retired  to  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine  after  the  peace  of  Luneville. 
But  when  the  discovery  of  the  Bourbon  conspiracy  was  made  in  Paris  Napo¬ 
leon  had  him  at  once  arrested  on  the  pretense  that  he  was  knowing  to  the 
conspiracy,  and  although  there  was  not  the  least  evidence  to  that  effect.  The 
natural  territory  of  Baden  was  invaded  and  the  duke  was  overpowered  by  an 
armed  band  after  attempting  resistance  on  the  night  of  May  17th,  1804.  He 
was  captured  with  a  few  friends  and  servants  and  taken  to  Strasburg  and 
immediately  conveyed  to  Vincennes  ;  three  days  later  he  was  hastily  tried  and 
condemned  to  death  ;  in  half  an  hour  the  sentence  was  executed.  This  cruel 
and  audaciously  criminal  act  has  affixed  a  lasting  stigma  to  the  name  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte.  The  illegality  of  the  trial  and  sentence  was  subse¬ 
quently  acknowledged  by  the  president  of  the  court,  General  Hullin.  Napo¬ 
leon  endeavored  in  vain  to  excuse  his  action  in  the  eyes  of  Europe. 

George  Cadoudal  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Chouan  or  Royalist  war  in 
Brittany.  He  was  born  in  1771,  and  all  the  while  during  the  revolution  and 


The  battle  of  the  Pyramids.  “Three  thousand  years  look  down  upon  you,  and  victory." 

F.  Lix.  See  page  283. 


FRANCE.— THE  CONSULATE. 


287 


1804] 

the  career  of  Napoleon  was  a  devoted  Royalist.  He  was  a  distinguished  char¬ 
acter  in  the  conspiracy  against  the  first  consul  in  1799,  but  had  escaped  to 
England  after  Napoleon  had  assumed  the  power.  The  latter  at  once  recognized 
the  ability  and  force  of  character  of  this  man  and  offered  to  make  him  a 
lieutenant-general  in  his  army,  which  he  refused,  as  he  also  did  another 
offer  of  a  pension  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs  if  he  would  only  remain 
quiet.  Subsequently,  when  George  Cadoudal  entered  into  the  conspiracy  of 
which  we  are  speaking,  he  came  to  Paris,  where  he  was  arrested,  tried,  con. 
victed,  and  executed  June  25th,  1804.  He  was  a  man  of  uncompromising 
integrity  and  dauntless  resolution.  Napoleon  said  of  him,  “  His  mind  was 
cast  in  the  true  mold  ;  in  my  hands  he  would  have  done  great  things.” 

Charles  Pichegru  had  been  a  successful  general  of  the  republic  and  risen 
to  the  chief  command  of  the  army  of  the  Rhine  in  1793,  where  he  gained 
repeated  victories  over  the  enemies  of  France,  but  on  finding  the  anarchy 
which  prevailed  in  Paris,  he  was  led  by  the  secret  offers  of  the  prince  of 
Conde  to  favor  the  Bourbons.  His  conduct  aroused  the  suspicions  of  the 
Directory  and  he  was  superseded  in  the  command  by  Moreau,  and  subse¬ 
quently,  on  account  of  other  intrigues,  he  was  transported  to  Cayenne.  He 
effected  his  escape  in  June,  1798,  and  entered  heart  and  soul  into  the 
Bourbon  conspiracy.  The  conspirators  secretly  came  to  Paris,  bent  upon 
taking  the  life  of  the  first  consul.  An  intimate  friend  of  Pichegru  betrayed 
him  to  the  government  for  a  bribe  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns.  He  was 
surprised  in  his  sleep  and  carried  to  the  Temple,  where  he  was  afterward  found 
dead  in  his  bed.  An  attempt  to  fasten  his  death  as  a  private  assassination 
upon  Napoleon  lacks  evidence,  and  the  most  general  belief  is,  that  he  stran¬ 
gled  himself. 


XIX. 


I] 


I. 


'HE  conspiracy  was  crushed  in  its  beginning,  and  Napo¬ 
leon  used  it  as  a  pretext  to  advance  his  claims  for 
the  emperorship.  The  question  of  another  change  in 
government  was  submitted  to  the  people,  and  out  of  a 
vote  of  between  3,000,000  and  4,000,000,  only  three  or 
four  thousand  were  against  the  measure.  But  as  munici¬ 
pal  freedom  was  gone,  but  little  value  can  be  placed  upon 
this  expression  of  the  popular  will.  On  the  18th  day  of  May 
Napoleon  assumed  the  title  of  emperor,  and  was  crowned,  not 
by  the  pope,  but  in  his  presence,  December  2d.  When  the 
pope  was  about  to  place  the  crown  upon  his  head,  he  suddenly 
snatched  it  from  the  pope’s  hand  and  crowned  himself  with  it. 
The  pope  had  come  to  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  crowning  Napo 
l^leon  and  his  wife  Josephine.  Then  there  was  created  a  new  ordel 
of  nobility,  and  all  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  new  emperoi 
were  created  kings,  dukes,  counts,  and  placed  over  the  con¬ 
quered  people  which  he  had  subdued.  By  the  means  of  his 
power  over  the  weakened  continental  nations,  he  made  an  efficient  blockade 
of  the  coast  of  England.  His  arms  were  everywhere  victorious,  with  the  one 
exception  of  the  operations  in  the  peninsula.  His  policy  of  aggrandizement 
began  at  this  time  to  arouse  the  attention  and  jealousy  of  all  the  other  powers, 
and  especially  Austria,  who  saw  her  territory  in  Italy  seriously  threatened. 
By  the  effort  of  England  a  coalition  was  formed  in  1805  against  France  by 
Austria,  Russia,  Sweden  and  England.  The  war  broke  out  in  September  of 
that  year,  and  Napoleon  moved  with  his  wonderful  celerity.  His  forces,, 
which  were  scattered  widely,  were  gathered  as  quickly  at  Mainz.  A  forward 
march  across  Bavaria  compelled  General  Mack  to  surrender  Ulm  with  twenty 
thousand  men  on  October  17th,  and  Napoleon  entered  the  Austrian  capital  on 
the  13th  of  November.  .  The  news  of  this  electrified  all  France,  but  the  rest 
of  Europe  was  dumbfounded.  This  was  only  the  prelude  to  a  more  wonder¬ 
ful  success.  The  Russian  emperor  had  already  entered  Moravia  with  a 
large  army  and  joined  the  scattered  Austrian  troops.  Hurrying  northward 
the  French  emperor  did  not  lose  a  moment,  but  met  the  allied  armies  at 
Austerlitz  on  December  2d,  1805. 

The  allied  armies  of  Austria  and  Russia  were  under  the  immediate  com¬ 
mand  of  their  respective  emperors,  and  they  advanced  in  five  columns  to  offer 
battle  to  the  French  emperor.  But  the  movements  of  these  were  ill* 


1 


Charlotte  Corday  undauntedly  leaves  the  “  Conciergerie  ”  on  the  road  to  the  Guillotine. 

See  page  278. 


FRANCE.— THE  EMPIRE.— NAPOLEON  I. 


289 


1805] 

conducted,  and  evidently  made  without  a  knowledge  of  the  strength  of  the 
French  army.  Napoleon  had  taken  his  head-quarters  at  Brtinn.  The  strength 
of  his  army  was  fully  eighty  thousand  men,  but  they  were  so  carefully  con¬ 
cealed  under  the  tactics  of  their  general  as  not  to  appear  to  be  nearly  so 
many.  The  engagement  began  at  7  o’clock  in  the  morning,  but  the  Russian 
line  was  quickly  broken  by  the  French.  The  left  wing  of  the  allied  army 
suffered  severely  toward  the  close  of  the  battle,  and  attempted  to  withdraw 
across  a  frozen  pond,  but  Napoleon  ordered  his  artillery  to  fire  upon  the  ice, 
which  was  thus  broken  and  thousands  of  the  troops  were  drowned.  According 
to  trustworthy  accounts  the  allied  armies  lost  thirty  thousand  men,  and  the 
French  twelve  thousand.  Russian  and  French  accounts  make  the  number  on 
each  side  respectively  much  less.  This  battle  was  followed  by  an  armistice, 
the  terms  being  dictated  by  the  conquering  emperor,  and  on  the  26th  of 
December,  by  the  treaty  of  Presburg,  Austria  was  completely  humbled  by 
this  disaster. 

Prior  to  this  decided  victory  the  French  navy  had  suffered  a  terrible 
defeat  at  Trafalgar.  The  French  fleet  was  commanded  by  Villeneuve,  and 
the  Spanish  fleet,  allied  with  it,  by  two  Spanish  admirals.  This  combined  fleet 
consisted  of  thirty-three  ships  of  the  line,  five  frigates  and  two  brigs.  The 
British  fleet  opposed  them  with  twenty-seven  ships  of  the  line,  four  frigates 
and  two  smaller  vessels.  The  engagement  resulted  in  an  overwhelming 
defeat  for  the  French,  but  the  English  lost  their  bravest  and  best  admiral, 
Nelson. 

On  the  27th  of  December  Napoleon  declared  war  against  the  king  of 
Naples,  because  he  had  violated  the  treaty  of  neutrality  by  receiving  an 
English  and  Russian  army  with  friendship  a  few  days  before  the  battle  of 
Austerlitz.  A  powerful  army  under  Massena  and  Joseph  Bonaparte  had 
hastened  to  Naples  to  enforce  the  promulgation  of  Napoleon’s  annunciation, 
“The  royal  house  of  Naples  has  ceased  to  reign.”  The  army  reached  the 
capital  of  the  kingdom  February  15th,  1807,  at  whose  approach  the  royal 
house  fled  in  terror  to  Palermo.  The  emperor  at  once  appointed  his  brother 
Joseph  the  hereditary  king  of  that  beautiful  kingdom  and  made  him  a  tribu¬ 
tary  of  the  empire.  The  capture  of  Gaeta,  July  18th,  consummated  this 
revolution. 

Shortly  after  Joseph  Bonaparte  had  been  seated  on  the  throne  of  Naples 
a  delegation  from  Batavia  came  to  Paris  and  implored  that  Louis  Napoleon 
should  be  appointed  regent  of  that  country.  Immediately  this  prince  was 
proclaimed  king  of  Holland,  upon  the  same  conditions  that  his  brother  had 
been  made  king  of  Naples. 

The  kingdom  of  Italy  was  now  increased  by  the  addition  of  all  the  States 
which  had  formed  the  States  of  Venice,  and  over  this  was  placed  the  adopted 
son  of  the  emperor.  Eugene  Beauharnais,  who  had  married  the  Princess 
Augusta  of  Bavaria,  was  seated  on  the  throne  of  this  kingdom,  which  now 
embraced  all  Italy  except  Hetruria  and  Rome. 

While  Napoleon  raised  his  large  family  of  relatives  to  dignity  and 
to 


290 


FRANCE.— THE  EMPIRE.— NAPOLEON  I. 


[1804 

renown  he  did  not  forget  to  reward  his  generals  with  dukedoms  and  provinces, 
by  which  he  could  bestow  emoluments  without  taxing  France  or  taking  from 
her  territory.  There  was,  in  fact,  a  double  empire,  the  direct  and  the  indirect. 
The  former  consisted  of  France  and  her  incorporated  provinces  under  the 
immediate  rule  of  Napoleon,  the  latter  of  ’the  kingdoms  and  principalities 
which  were  held  by  those  who  were  French  subjects  and,  at  the  same  time, 
dependent  for  their  power  upon  the  French  emperor. 

The  entire  administration  of  internal  affairs  tended  to  the  consolidation 
of  the  empire  and  the  last  vestige  of  freedom  to  the  French. 

The  restoration  of  the  Gregorian  Calendar  in  the  place  of  the  Republican, 
the  arrangement  of  the  Church  in  its  connection  with  the  State  and  national 
system  of  education,  all  tended  to  make  the  people  subservient  to  the  will  of 
a  despot.  Only  one  thing  was  wanting  to  concentrate  in  the  person  of  the 
emperor  alone  all  the  relations  of  Church,  education,  commerce  and  the  family 
— the  subjection  of  his  own  house.  This  was  effected  on  the  30th  of 
March,  1806,  by  the  imperial  family  statute ,  by  which  he  was  able  to  rivet 
the  chains  more  closely,  not  only  about  France  itself,  but  around  the  allied 
States  he  had  connected  with  her.  By  this  his  own  family,  although  they 
occupied  foreign  thrones,  were  compelled  into  absolute  dependence  upon  him. 
From  the  time  he  became  consul  for  life  his  character  underwent  a  most 
radical  change  in  every  particular.  Before  that  the  good  of  France  may  have 
been  the  sole  object  of  his  ambition,  but  thereafter  his  egregious  personal 
ambition  swallowed  up  every  other  consideration. 

It  was  Germany  which  suffered  the  heaviest  from  the  treaty  of  Presburg. 
March  15th,  1806,  Napoleon  gave  Cleves,  with  Berry  as  an  hereditary  duchy,  to 
his  brother-in-law,  Joachim  Murat,  upon  the  usual  condition.  The  imperial 
city  of  Frankfort  was  fallen  upon  by  French  troops,  put  under  contribution, 
and  presented  to  the  electoral  archchancellor  on  the  19th  of  September. 
The  uncle  of  the  great  Napoleon  was  appointed  his  coadjutor  May  28th. 

A  union  of  sixteen  German  princes,  under  the  control  of  the  French 
emperor,  was  concluded  at  Paris,  July  12th,  1806.  These  princes  agreed  by  a 
treaty  of  alliance  to  raise  a  contingent  of  sixty-three  thousand  men  for  all 
the  wars  which  F ranee  might  wage.  Augsburg  and  Lindon  were  the  places  of 
rendezvous.  The  formation  of  this  confederation  was  communicated  with  no 
delay  by  the  French  charge ■  cT affaires,  Bucher,  to  the  diet  of  the  German 
empire,  with  the  declaration  that  France  no  longer  recognized  the  existence  of 
a  German  empire.  Thus  passed  away  without  noise  or  confusion  an  empire 
which  Charles  the  Great  had  founded  more  than  a  thousand  years  before. 

The  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  as  this  union  was  styled,  increased  the 
territory  of  France  by  an  area  of  between  eleven  and  twelve  thousand 
square  miles,  and  added  eight  million  souls  to  her  population.  It  mattered 
not  by  what  title  he  was  called,  whether  emperor,  king,  prince,  or  protector, 
the  great  Napoleon  was  absolute  master  of  all.  Negotiations  for  peace  had 
been  begun  with  Russia  and  England,  but  they  were  abruptly  broken  off 
October  1st.  Prussia  began  to  arouse  herself  and  shake  off  her  blindness  to 


The  prisons  emptying  their  emaciated  charges  to  be  led  to  execution. 

F.  Lix.  See  page  277. 


FRANCE.— THE  EMPIRE.— NAPOLEON  I. 


291 


1811] 

the  situation,  now  she  was  thoroughly  alive  to  the  important  crisis.  War 
was  declared  by  France  on  the  7th,  and  by  Prussia  on  the  8th.  Preparations 
were  hurriedly  made.  Prussia  collected  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  men  in  the  vicinity  of  Erfurt.  It  was  a  valiant  army  but  poorly 
officered.  Napoleon  quietly,  and  with  astonishing  rapidity,  broke  through 
the  Prussians  and  suddenly  assailed  them  on  the  left  flank.  The  engagement 
near  Saalfeld  October  10th,  in  which  the  heroic  Prince  Louis  Ferdinand  of 
Prussia  fell  like  a  hero,  was  only  the  prelude  to  the  fatal  day  of  Jena  and 
Auerstadt  on  the  14th.  The  Prussian  power  was  overthrown  on  that  bloody 
field.  The  pages  of  modern  history  do  not  record  a  defeat  so  total  and 
irredeemable  as  this.  The  two  Prussian  armies  were  routed  and  dispersed  in 
spite  of  many  heroic  exploits.  Not  less  than  fifty  thousand  Prussians  fell  on 
that  day.  The  subsequent  disasters  were  even  more  appalling.  Two  days 
after  the  battle,  Erfurt  surrendered  with  its  strong  citadels  and  fourteen 
thousand  men.  The  day  after  this  the  entire  reserve  under  the  prince  of 
Wurtemburg  was  beaten  near  Halle.  The  French  crossed  the  Elbe  and 
entered  the  fortified  Sprandau  on  the  24th  of  October,  and  Berlin  on  the 
25th.  The  end  of  disaster  had  not  yet  come  ;  on  the  28th  the  Prussian 
general,  Hohenlohe,  surrendered  with  seventeen  thousand  men,  the  next  day 
six  thousand  cavalry  also  surrendered,  Lubeck  was  stormed  repeatedly  on  the 
6th  of  November,  and  was  surrendered  by  its  valiant  defender,  Blucher,  with 
ten  thousand  men.  Other  cities  follow  the  same  fate,  and  before  the  first  of 
December  all  the  country  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Oder  with  9,000,000 
inhabitants  had  surrendered  to  the  victorious  French  emperor.  All  Northern 
Germany  felt  the  scourge  of  the  victor,  and  neutral  territory  was  not  spared. 
Of  all  Germany,  Austria  alone  had  taken  no  part  in  the  war ;  but  the  sudden 
fall  of  Prussia,  although  it  might  make  their  own  overthrow  less  humiliating, 
was  none  the  less  an  object  of  terror  and  grief.  After  the  fall  of  the 
Prussian  capital  Napoleon  hastened  northward  to  meet  the  Russians,  who 
were  now  coming  to  the  aid  of  Prussia  ;  on  his  way  he  aroused  the  Poles  to 
make  a  strike  for  liberty,  but  only  with  partial  success.  The  French  were 
twice  beaten  back,  once  at  Pultask,  December  18th,  1806,  and  again  at  Eylau, 
February  8th,  1807;  but  after  some  months  they  received  heavy  re-enforce¬ 
ments,  and  on  the  13th  of  June  they  fought  and  won  the  great  battle  of 
Friedland,  which  led  to  the  treaty  of  Tilsit  July  7th.  At  the  same  conference 
a  secret  treaty  was  signed,  by  which  the  Russians  agreed  to  exclude  the 
English  from  her  ports.  Just  after  this  treaty  the  emperor  removed  the  last 
vestige  of  popular  government  from  the  people  by  the  abolition  of  the 
tribunate.  In  August  the  emperor  created  his  brother  Jerome,  sovereign  of 
Westphalia,  and  soon  after  declared  war  with  Portugal  on  account  of  her 
refusing  to  keep  the  British  ships  out  of  her  ports.  In  the  month  of  March, 
1808,  occurred  the  extraordinary  instance  of  trepanning  at  Bayonne,  by  which 
the  royal  family  of  Spain  came  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  In  the 
following  July  the  “dearly  beloved  brother”  of  Napoleon,  Joseph,  was 
ordered  to  exchange  the  throne  of  Naples  for  that  of  Spain  and  the  Indies. 


292 


FRANCE.— THE  EMPIRE.— NAPOLEON  I. 


[1804 


His  successor  in  Naples  was  Joachim  Marat.  Spain  at  once  arose  in  arms, 
and  was  aided  by  England  under  Sir  John  Moore.  Napoleon  invaded  Spain, 
defeated  their  army,  and  entered  Madrid  December  4th.  But  he  was 
urgently  needed  elsewhere,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Soult  and  other 
generals  to  conduct  the  war  in  the  peninsula.  Austria  once  more  prepared 
for  war,  which  began  in  the  spring  of  1809. 

The  first  great  operations  of  the  war  gave  no  very  decided  advantage  to 
Napoleon,  although  his  bulletins  spoke  of  partial  victories  as  final  triumphs. 
The  battle  of  Eckmuhl  on  the  22d  of  April  was  followed  by  the  entry  of  the 
French  into  Vienna  on  the  13th  of  May.  But  the  archduke  Charles  had 
re-enforced  his  army,  and  was  advancing  rapidly  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
Danube,  to  prevent  the  enemy  crossing  from  the  right  bank,  on  which 
Vienna  is  situated.  In  the  great  stream  of  the  Danube  is  the  island  of 
Lobau,  nearly  three  miles  in  length,  and  nearly  two  miles  in  breadth.  To 
this  island  Napoleon  determined  to  transport  his  army.  This  was  an 
operation  of  no  common  difficulty  ;  but  it  was  accomplished  by  incessant 
labor  in  constructing  a  great  bridge  upon  boats,  held  in  their  places  by 
anchors,  or  by  the  weight  of  cannon  taken  from  the  arsenal  of  Vienna. 
From  Lobau  there  was  a  smaller  stream  to  cross,  by  a  similar  bridge,  before  a 
landing  could  be  effected  on  the  open  plain  on  the  left  bank.  On  the 
morning  of  the  21st  of  May,  the  army  of  the  archduke  Charles  saw  from 
wooded  heights  the  army  of  Napoleon  crossing  the  lesser  branch  of  the  river, 
and  pouring  into  the  great  level  called  Marchfeld.  As  the  French  formed 
their  line,  the  village  of  Aspern  was  on  one  flank  ;  the  village  of  Essling  on 
the  other  flank.  On  the  21st  and  22d  of  May,  the  most  sanguinary  contest 
of  the  war  here  took  place.  “It  was  a  battle,”  says  Thiers,  “without  any 
result  but  an  abominable  effusion  of  blood.”  Never  before  was  the  all- 
conquering  emperor  in  so  dangerous  a  position  as  when  the  day  closed  upon 
this  horrible  carnage.  He  could  not  return  to  Vienna;  for  the  river  had 
risen,  and  the  Austrians  had  floated  down  the  main  stream  great  balks  of 
timber  and  numerous  fire-ships,  which  swept  away  the  boats  and  their  bridge. 
Napoleon  could  only  return  to  the  island  of  Lobau.  Here  he  retreated, 
carrying  with  him  thousands  of  wounded  soldiers.  The  place  afforded  small 
means  for  their  cure  or  comfort  ;  and  there  was  soon  little  difference  between 
those  who  died  in  the  battle-field  and  those  who  were  borne  from  it  to  a 
lingering  death. 

The  inaction  of  mutual  exhaustion  was  coming  to  an  end.  To  Napo¬ 
leon  inaction  was  generally  insupportable.  He  appeared  busily  employed 
in  constructing  massive  bridges  from  the  island  to  the  left  bank  of  the 
Danube ;  but  he  was  secretly  collecting  the  materials  for  another  work. 
On  the  night  of  the  4th  of  July  the  whole  of  his  army  crossed  the  stream,  by 
a  bridge  hastily  thrown  over  an  unguarded  point.  On  the  morning  of  the 
5th  the  French  moved  in  order  of  battle  toward  the  entrenched  camp  of  the 
Austrians,  which  was  to  resist  the  passage  over  the  Danube  so  ostentatiously 
prepared.  The  archduke  Charles  quitted  his  entrenchments,  abandoning  the 


Andreas  Hofer  gathering  his  Highlanders  in  defense  of  Fatherland. 

F.  Deffregger.  Page  293. 


FRANCE.— THE  EMPIRE.— NAPOLEON  I. 


293 


1811] 

country  between  Enzensdorf  and  Wagram.  He  had  lost  the  opportunity  of 
attacking  the  French  as  they  crossed  the  river  in  that  one  night,  and 
confronted  him  as  if  by  miracle.  He  now  retired  to  a  strong  position  on  the 
elevated  table-land  of  Wagram.  From  this  locality  the  great  battle  of  the 
6th  derives  its  name.  The  number  of  soldiers  engaged  in  the  work  of 
mutual  destruction  was  between  three  and  four  hundred  thousand.  The 
French  historians  claim  to  have  killed  or  wounded  twenty-four  thousand 
Austrians ;  and  admit  to  have  lost  eighteen  thousand  in  killed  or  wounded. 
But  the  sturdy  resistance  of  Austria  had  deranged  some  of  Napoleon’s 
grandest  plans  of  ambition.  “  He  had  renounced  the  idea  of  dethroning  the 
house  of  Hapsburg,  an  idea  which  he  had  conceived  in  the  first  movements  of 
his  wrath.”  He  would  humiliate  Austria  by  new  sacrifices  of  territory  and 
of  money.  The  time  was  fast  approaching  when  the  conquering  parvenu 
would  demand  a  daughter  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg  in  marriage,  com¬ 
pleting  the  triumph  of  his  proud  egoism  by  divorcing  the  woman  who  had 
stooped  from  her  rank  to  wed  the  Corsican  lieutenant  of  artillery.  Austria 
sued  for  an  armistice  ;  and  the  armistice  led  to  a  peace.  Two  of  the 
conditions  of  the  peace  of  Vienna,  which  was  signed  on  the  14th  of  October, 
were  more  degrading  to  Austria  than  the  loss  of  territory.  One  was  that  she 
should  give  no  succor  to  the  Tyrolese  who  had  so  nobly  fought  for  her 
independence.  The  other  was,  that  she  should  unite  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
enslaved  continent  in  the  exclusion  of  the  commerce  of  England,  her  ally, 
that  was  affording  the  most  effectual  co-operation  by  exertions  in  Spain  ;  and 
had  attempted  by  a  small  expedition  to  Naples,  and  a  vast  expedition  to  the 
Scheldt,  to  divert  the  levies  of  France  from  going  to  the  aid  of  the  French 
armies  that  were  fighting  against  Austria  on  the  Danube  and  in  Italy. 
England  was  ill-timed  in  her  assistance ;  she  was  unlucky  ;  but  her  good-will 
was  not  the  less  sincere.  Napoleon  returned  to  Paris,  and  left  his  marshals 
to  put  down  the  spirit  in  Germany  which  a  humiliating  peace  could  not 
compromise,  and  which  the  system  of  terror  could  not  wholly  extinguish. 
Fifty  thousand  French  and  Bavarians  marched  into  the  Tyrol  ;  hunted  the 
peasantry  from  hill  to  hill;  set  a  price  upon  the  head  of  Andrew  Hofer; 
and  procured  his  arrest  by  treachery.  He  was  tried  by  court-martial  at 
Mantua,  and  condemned  to  death.  The  majority  of  French  officers  were 
averse  to  the  sentence  being  executed.  There  was  a  respite  ;  but  an  order 
from  Paris  left  no  choice.  He  was  shot  on  the  20th  of  February. 

The  time  had  now  come  when  Napoleon  was  about  to  commit  the  most 
contemptible  act  of  his  whole  life,  and  for  which  he  ought  to  receive  the 
curse  of  all  decent  men.  The  gentle  Josephine,  who  had  stooped  from  her 
rank  to  wed  the  young  Corsican  sub-lieutenant,  had  made  him  a  true  and 
noble  wife.  But  she  was  childless,  and  he  wished  to  ally  himself  to  some 
royal  family  as  well  as  to  perpetuate  his  family.  He  therefore  began 
proceedings  for  divorce.  The  act  of  divorcement  was  registered  on  the  16th 
of  December,  1809,  and  Josephine  was  permitted  to  retain  the  title  of 
empress.  In  less  than  three  months  he  was  married  to  Maria  Louisa,  arch- 


294 


FRANCE. — THE  EMPIRE.— NAPOLEON  I. 


J 


[1804 


duchess  of  Austria.  He  was  now  at  the  zenith  of  his  power,  but  according  to 
the  old  Greek  belief  Nemesis  was  already  on  his  track.  The  real  cause  of  his 
downfall  was  the  moral  effect  of  that  outrage  on  modern  civilization  contained 
in  the  Berlin  decrees,  by  which  Napoleon  declared  the  whole  of  the  British 
Isles  in  a  state  of  blockade. 

On  the  13th  of  December,  1810,  all  Holland  was  added  to  the  French 
empire,  and  created  ten  departments.  The  empire  now  consisted  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  departments,  embracing  forty-two  million  souls.  The 
millions  that  were  dependent  upon  the  will  of  the  mighty  emperor — a 
godhead  with  some  infatuated  English,  a  “  restless  barbarian”  with  others 
not  wholly  given  up  to  party — can  scarcely  be  numbered.  The  kingdom  of 
Italy,  which  was  under  his  sway,  contained  six  millions.  The  kingdom  of 
Naples,  in  which  his  brother-in-law,  Joachim  Murat,  now  ruled,  contained 
five  millions.  The  kingdom  of  Westphalia,  of  which  his  brother  Jerome  was 
the  sovereign,  submitted  to  the  law  that  was  enforced  upon  his  other  satel¬ 
lites,  that  “  everything  must  be  subservient  to  the  interests  of  France.”  Pro¬ 
tector  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  he  had  at  his  feet  the  kings  of 
Saxony,  Bavaria,  and  Wiirtemburg,  and  a  train  of  minor  German  princes. 
Prussia  was  wholly  at  his  mercy.  Denmark  would  obey  any  command  of 
Napoleon  since  Copenhagen  was  bombarded  and  her  fleet  carried  off.  Mar¬ 
shal  Bernadotte,  prince  of  Ponte  Corvo,  had  been  elected  by  the  States  of 
Sweden  as  successor  to  the  aged  and  childless  Charles  XIII.,  who  had 
succeded  the  deposed  Gustavus.  The  French  marshal  was  installed  crown 
prince  on  the  1st  of  November,  1810.  There  only  wanted  the  entire  posses¬ 
sion  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  under  his  brother  king,  Joseph — Austria  being  his 
own  by  family  ties,  and  Russia  his  ally,  in  the  sworn  friendship  of  her 
emperor — to  make  the  world  his  own.  England  was  to  perish  in  the  great 
league  of  Europe  against  her  commerce  ;  and  in  the  resistance  of  America  to 
her  maritime  claims.  “  The  English,”  says  Thiers,  “once  expelled  from 
Portugal,  all  would  tend  in  Europe  to  a  general  peace.  On  the  contrary, 
their  situation  consolidated  in  that  country,  Massena  being  obliged  to  retrace 
his  steps,  the  fortune  of  the  empire  would  begin  to  fall  back  before  the 
fortune  of  Great  Britain,  to  sink  in  the  midst  of  an  approaching  catas¬ 
trophe.”  In  his  place  in  parliament,  about  this  time,  the  marquis  Wellesley 
proclaimed  a  great  truth,  which  he  repeated  in  1813  :  “As  Bonaparte  was 
probably  the  only  man  in  the  world  who  could  have  raised  his  power  to  such 
a  height,  so  he  was  probably  the  only  man  who  could  bring  it  into  imminent 
danger.  His  eagerness  for  power  was  so  inordinate  ;  his  jealousy  of  inde¬ 
pendence  so  fierce  ;  his  keenness  of  appetite  so  feverish  in  all  that  touched 
his  ambition  even  in  the  most  trifling  things,  that  he  must  plunge  into 
desperate  difficulties.  He  was  of  an  order  of  mind  that  by  nature  made  for 
themselves  great  reverses.” 

On  the  10th  of  March,  1811,  Louise  Maria  presented  the  emperor  with  a 
son,  whom  Napoleon  in  the  joy  of  his  heart  saluted  as  king  of  Rome.  The 


Napoleon  announcing  to  Josephine  his  determination  to  divorce  her  and  marry  Maria  Louise. 

E.  Bayard.  See  page  293. 


! 

( 


1812]  FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN.  295 

infant  prince  was  baptized  June  6th,  by  the  name  of  Napoleon  Francois 
Charles  Joseph. 

Russia  and  the  other  European  powers  found  that  they  could  not 
enforce  the  unrighteous  decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan,  and  at  first  began  to 
evade  them.  The  relations  of  England  and  the  United  States  to  the 
continental  question  are  set  forth  in  the  respective  histories  of  those 
countries. 


xx. 

THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN  AND  THE  END  DF  THE 


HE  eternal  friendship  between  Napoleon  and  Alexander 
which  had  been  sworn  at  Tilsit  was  threatened  to  be 
dissolved  by  causes  of  which  the  two  emperors  at  first 
took  little  heed.  Princes  might  submit  to  the  continen¬ 
tal  decrees  of  France,  but  nations  were  more  difficult  to 
persuade  or  to  coerce.  The  Russian  people,  and 
especially  the  Russian  landholders,  who  were  deprived  of 
the  usual  markets  for  the  produce  of  their  estates,  compelled 
the  government  to  issue  a  ukase,  by  which  commodities  were  to 
be  introduced  into  Russian  ports  unless  they  should  appear  to 
belong  to  subjects  of  Great  Britain.  This  restriction  was  easy 
to  be  evaded,  and  the  trade  between  the  two  countries  became 
iT)  really  opened.  Napoleon  was  haughty  and  indignant.  But 
Alexander  dared  not  impose  any  severer  law  upon  his  subjects  ; 
and  he  had  now  the  support  of  Bernadotte,  the  crown  prince  of 
Sweden,  who  also  refused  to  submit  to  the  dictator,  who  had 
seized  and  confiscated  fifty  Swedish  merchantmen,  on  the 
ground  of  their  contraband  trade  with  England.  I11  March,  1812,  a  treaty  of 
alliance  was  signed  between  Russia  and  Sweden.  Napoleon  had  been 
gradually  collecting  large  bodies  of  troops  on  the  Vistula.  He  had  levied  the 
conscription  of  1812,  although  that  of  1811  was  only  just  completed.  It  was 
clear  that  an  offensive  war  was  in  preparation.  At  the  beginning  of  May,  the 
Russian  minister  at  Paris  presented  an  official  note,  to  the  intent  that  the 
differences  between  the  governments  might  be  easily  settled  if  the  French 
troops  were  withdrawn  from  Pomerania  and  the  duchy  of  Warsaw,  where 
they  were  evidently  stationed  to  threaten  the  Russian  frontier.  Bonaparte 
said  he  would  not  be  dictated  to  by  any  foreign  sovereign,  and  he  sent  the 
ambassador  his  passports.  On  the  9th  of  May  he  left  Paris,  with  his  Austrian 
empress.  At  Dresden  he  received  the  homage  of  his  tributary  princes:  and 


FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN. 


[1812 


there,  too,  came  the  emperor  of  Austria  and  the  king  of  Prussia,  to  offer 
their  contingents  for  the  invasion  of  Russia.  Splendid  were  the  ceremonials 
with  which  the  vassals  did  fealty  to  their  liege  lord.  The  numbers  of  the 
confederated  army  which,  on  the  24th  and  25th  of  June,  passed  the  Niemen, 
the  boundary  of  the  Russian  empire,  have  been  variously  stated.  The  lowest 
estimate  places  them  at  half  a  million  of  men.  A  detailed  return,  extant  in 
the  French  War-office,  gives  the  numbers  as  six  hundred  and  fifty-one  thou¬ 
sand  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  infantry,  cavalry,  artillery,  and  engineers; 
one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  horses, 
and  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-two  pieces  of  ordnance.  To 
meet  this  mighty  force,  the  Russian  armies  only  comprised  two  hundred  and 
fifty-four  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  men.  But  there  was  some¬ 
thing  stronger  than  these  mighty  masses  of  invaders, — the  determination  of 
the  Russian  people  to  resist  to  the  last  extremity.  It  was  in  this  spirit  that 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  Alexander’s  army  held  that  to  ruin  the  invader 
they  must  retire  before  him  into  the  heart  of  Russia  without  giving  battle, 
and,  destroying  everything  before  him  in  their  retreat,  to  leave  nothing  but 
ravaged  fields,  so  that  the  modern  Pharaoh  and  his  hosts  should  perish  in  the 
immensity  of  the  void,  as  the  ancient  Pharaoh  perished  in  the  waters. 

The  French  armies  entered  Lithuania  without  encountering  any  op¬ 
position.  They  ravaged  the  country,  feeding  their  horses  on  green  corn  ; 
and  when  the  main  bodies  left  it,  entirely  devastated,  they  left  behind  them  a 
hundred  thousand  men,  dead,  or  in  hospitals,  or  marauding  in  scattered 
parties  through  the  districts  where  the  locusts  who  had  passed  over  had  left 
nothing  to  be  consumed.  On  the  16th  of  August  they  were  under  the  walls 
of  Smolensk,  about  two  hundred  and  eighty  miles  from  Moscow.  The 
Russians  were  there  in  force,  and  a  great  battle  took  place.  When  the 
French  entered  the  city  it  had  been  evacuated,  and  they  found  only  burning 
ruins.  The  Russians  continued  their  retreat  toward  Moscow,  Napoleon 
following  them.  On  the  7th  of  September  was  fought  the  sanguinary  battle 
of  Borodino.  The  sun  had  risen  with  extraordinary  brilliancy,  and  Napoleon 
hailed  it  as  the  twin  sun  of  Austerlitz.  The  fighting  lasted  two  days.  On 
each  side  there  were  forty  thousand  killed  and  wounded.  Each  army  imagined 
itself  lord  of  the  field ;  but  the  Russian  army  continued  its  retreat  to 
Moscow. 

On  the  14th  of  September  before  day  dawn,  the  Russian  troops  com¬ 
menced  filing  through  the  city.  They  were  soon  accompanied  by  all  the 
inhabitants  and  populace  who  could  find  any  means  of  conveyance.  “  The 
incidents  and  the  whole  scene  of  the  evacuation  of  a  great  capital  may  be 
conceived  better  than  described.  The  Russians,  however,  have  preserved  so 
much  of  their  nomad  habits,  that  they  were  much  more  quickly  packed  and 
equipped  for  their  emigration  than  the  inhabitants  of  any  other  European 
city  would  have  been.  The  army,  indeed,  since  the  first  day’s  retreat  from 
Smolensk,  had  been  accompanied  by  a  wandering  nation.  All  the  towns 
villages,  and  hamlets  were  abandoned  as  the  columns  appeared.  The  old  and 


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■Sj^i 

■  li’M'*  \: 

HI  1  r.^ 

ill 

•  j /■'•?.  '"V  f 

FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN. 


297 


1814] 

infirm,  the  women  and  children  were  placed  with  the  movable  effects,  and 
the  ‘  Dii  Penates,’  on  their  kabitgas  or  telegas — one  and  two  horse  carts  which 
no  peasant  is  without.”  On  the  same  day  Napoleon  arrived  at  Moscow  with 
his  guards,  and  was  astounded  at  the  solitude  which  reigned  everywhere. 
“  His  feelings  had  been  excited  to  the  highest  degree  of  pride  and  glowing 
expectation.  He  had  anticipated  his  reception  by  a  submissive  magistracy 
and  humbled  people,  imporing  clemency  ;  and  dreamt  that  in  the  palace  of 
the  czars  he  would  have  it  in  his  power  to  promise  pardon,  protection,  and 
peace  to  themselves  and  their  sovereign.  ” 

Napoleon  took  up  his  residence  in  the  suburb  of  Moscow.  He  had 
commanded  his  soldiers  to  bivouac  outside  the  city,  but  at  night  many 
entered,  and  sought  in  plunder  and  riot  some  compensation  for  their  long 
endurance  of  severe  privations.  That  very  night  the  alarm  of  fire  was  given 
in  various  quarters.  The  great  bazaar  with  its  ten  thousand  shops  was  in 
a  blaze.  The  crown  magazines,  with  vast  stores  of  wine  and  spirits,  were  in 
a  blaze.  Not  a  fire-engine,  not  a  bucket,  could  be  procured.  They  had  all 
been  carried  off.  The  next  day  the  French  emperor  transferred  his  quarters 
to  the  Kremlin.  Day  after  day  the  astonished  soldiers  saw  the  canopy  of 
smoke  and  flame  spreading  over  the  city  of  a  thousand  domes  and  minarets. 
On  the  2 1st,  the  Russian  army  was  established  within  twenty-five  miles  of 
Moscow.  They  knew  that  the  progress  of  their  invader  had  been  stayed. 
The  conflagration  went  on  till,  of  forty  thousand  houses  in  stone,  only  two 
hundred  escaped  ;  of  eight  thousand  in  wood,  five  hundred  only  were  stand¬ 
ing  ;  of  sixteen  hundred  churches,  eight  hundred  were  consumed.  The 
Kremlin  itself,  on  the  16th,  had  become  uninhabitable,  and  Napoleon  left  it 
to  take  up  his  quarters  outside  the  city.  A  furious  wind  carried  showers  of 
sparks  far  and  near.  On  the  20th,  when  Napoleon  returned,  a  heavy  rain  had 
extinguished  the  flames,  but  only  one-tenth  of  the  city  was  left  unconsumed. 
Only  those  provisions  had  escaped  being  burnt  which  were  left  in  the  cellars 
of  the  houses.  What  was  the  cause  of  this  terrible  destruction?  Was  it  the 
resolved  purpose  of  a  patriotic  devotion  producing  a  havoc  more  awful  than 
any  event  which  history  records,  or  was  it  accident  ?  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  part  of  the  same  determined  system  of  resistance  which  had  driven 
the  whole  population  from  the  burning  villages  on  the  road  from  Smolensk, 
and  had  led  forth  the  inhabitants  of  Moscow,  with  the  exception  of  the 
miserable  thousands  who  were  unable  to  move,  to  seek  for  other  shelter  than 
in  the  homes  of  the  devoted  city.  Rostopchin,  the  governor  of  Moscow, 
“  could  neither  deny  nor  adopt  the  act.”  But  that  he  had  a  strong  conviction 
of  what  was  public  virtue  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  he  afterward 
set  fire  with  his  own  hands  to  his  magnificent  palace  in  the  village  of  Woro- 
now,  when  a  division  of  the  French  were  approaching  on  the  4th  of  October, 
and  that  he  affixed  upon  a  pillar  these  ominous  words  :  “  The  inhabitants  of 
this  property,  to  the  number  of  seventeen  hundred  and  twenty,  quit  it  at 
your  approach,  and  I  voluntarily  set  the  house  on  fire  that  it  may  not  be 
polluted  by  your  presence.  Frenchmen,  I  abandoned  to  you  my  two  houses  at 


2gS 


FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN. 


[1812 

Moscow,  with  their  furniture  and  contents,  worth  half  a  million  of  roubles. 
Here  you  will  only  find  ashes.  ”  The  French  evacuated  Moscow  on  the  19th 
of  October.  Snow  had  begun  to  fall.  An  early  winter  was  setting  in. 

Adequately  to  describe  the  incidents  of  that  terrible  destruction  of  the 
French  grand  army,  which  occurred  from  the  19th  of  October  to  the  13th  of 
December,  when  a  miserable  remnant  re-crossed  the  Niemen,  would  require 
a  volume — as  indeed  several  separate  volumes  have  been  written  on  that  fear¬ 
ful  catastrophe.  The  march  of  the  French  was  a  succession  of  battles  with 
the  pursuing  Russians.  The  troops  were  skillfully  led  ;  their  courage  rarely 
failed,  even  when  starving  and  perishing  by  the  wayside  with  the  extremity 
of  cold.  Clouds  of  Cossacks  hung  upon  their  path,  leaving  them  not  an  hour’s 
safety.  The  most  popular  narrative,  that  of  the  Count  de  Segur,  has  been 
held  to  contain  many  exaggerations.  That  of  Sir  Robert  Wilson  has  many 
striking  details  of  horror,  amid  a  critical  military  view  of  the  operations  of 
the  Russians  in  which  he  is  not  sparing  of  blame.  There  is  a  brief  account 
by  Desprez,  the  aide-de-camp  of  King  Joseph,  who  was  sent  to  Napoleon  to 
propitiate  his  anger  against  his  brother,  and  against  Marmont,  for  the  defeat 
at  Salamanca.  The  emperor  kept  him  at  Moscow,  and  when  the  evacuation 
took  place,  he  accompanied  the  division  of  Marshal  Mortier,  till  it  reached 
Wilna,  where  the  French  had  staid  till  the  16th  of  December,  when  the 
Russians  were  coming  upon  them.  The  aide-de-camp,  in  a  letter  to  King 
Joseph,  dated  from  Paris  on  the  3d  of  January,  says  that  the  army  when  he 
quitted  it  was  in  the  most  horrible  misery.  For  a  long  time  previously  the 
disorder  and  losses  had  been  frightful ;  the  artillery  and  cavalry  had  ceased 
to  exist.  The  different  regiments  were  all  mixed  together  ;  the  soldiers 
marching  pell-mell,  and  only  seeking  to  prolong  existence.  Thousands  of 
wandering  men  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Cossacks.  The  number  of  prisoners 
was  very  great,  but  that  of  the  dead  exceeded  it.  During  a  month  there 
were  no  rations,  and  dead  horses  were  the  only  resource.  The  severity  of 
the  climate  rendered  hunger  more  fatal.  The  truth  could  not  be  wholly 
hidden,  even  by  Napoleon.  He  could  not  conceal  that  of  four  hundred 
thousand  Frenchmen  who  had  crossed  the  Niemen  in  May,  with  the  persua¬ 
sion  of  their  invincibility,  not  twenty  thousand  had  returned  to  the  Vistula. 
The  destruction  could  not  be  concealed  from  the  bereaved  families  who 
mourned  their  sons  and  their  husbands.  On  the  3d  of  December,  the  em¬ 
peror  issued  his  twenty-ninth  and  last  bulletin,  which  made  France  and  the 
world  comprehend,  in  some  degree,  how  the  invasion  of  Russia  had  ended. 
For  the  first  time  he  then  spoke  of  his  retreat  ;  he  avowed  such  part  of  his 
misfortunes  as  he  could  not  wholly  deny ;  he  attributes  his  calamities  to  the 
severity  of  the  weather.  On  the  5th,  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  he  quitted 
his  army  at  Smorgoni,  traveling  in  a  sledge,  accompanied  by  Caulaincourt,  a 
Polish  interpreter,  his  mamlook  Rustan,  and  a  valet.  He  arrived  in  Paris  on 
the  night  of  the  18th  of  December. 

There  is  a  description  of  the  state  of  public  feeling  in  Germany  at  the 
beginning  of  1813,  which  shows  how  the  continent  was  awakening  from  its 


The  retreat  from  Russia.  The  fearful  calamity  at  the  bridge  over  the  Bereziua. 

E.  Bayard.  Page  298. 


FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN. 


1814] 


299 


torpor.  The  writer  was  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Breslau  :  “The 
29th  bulletin  had  appeared  :  every  artful  expression  in  it  seemed  to  endeavor 
vainly  to  conceal  the  news  of  a  total  defeat.  The  vision  of  a  wonderful 
agitated  future  rose  in  every  mind  with  all  its  hopes  and  terrors  :  it  was 
breathed  out  at  first  in  tones  scarcely  audible  :  even  those  who  had  believed 
that  unbridled  ambition  would  find  its  check  in  the  land  which  it  had  deso¬ 
lated  could  not  realize  the  horrible  destruction  of  a  victorious  army,  an  army 
which  had  for  fifteen  years,  with  growing  might,  excited  first  the  admiration, 
then  the  terror,  and,  lastly,  the  paralyzed  dismay  of  all  the  continental  nations, 
and  which  had  at  length  been  overtaken  by  a  fearful  judgment,  more  wonder¬ 
ful  than  its  conquests.  But  the  strange  event  was  there ;  reports  no  longer 
to  be  doubted  crowded  in  upon  us, — the  distant  voice  approached, — the  por¬ 
tentous  words  sounded  clearer  and  clearer, — and  at  last  the  loud  call  to  rise 
was  shouted  through  the  land.  Then  did  the  flood  of  feeling  burst  from 
hearts  where  it  had  been  long  pent  up,- — fuller  and  freer  did  it  flow ;  then 
the  long-hidden  love  to  king  and  country  flamed  brightly  out,  and  the  dullest 
minds  were  animated  by  the  wild  enthusiasm.  Every  one  looked  for  a  tre¬ 
mendous  crisis,  but  the  moment  was  not  yet  come  for  action,  and  while 
resting  in  breathless  expectation,  thousands  and  thousands  became  every 
hour  stronger  still  to  meet  it.” 

The  passionate  impulses  of  the  people  of  Prussia  were  powerful  enough 
to  make  their  sovereign  resolve  to  endure  no  longer  his  state  of  ignominious 
vassalage.  He  first  made  a  proposal  to  Napoleon,  with  the  consent  of  Alex¬ 
ander,  whom  he  met  at  Breslau,  that  the  French  should  evacuate  Dantzic, 
and  all  the  Prussian  fortresses  on  the  Oder,  and  retire  behind  the  Elbe  into 
Saxony.  The  Russian  army  should  in  that  case  remain  behind  the  Vistula. 
Napoleon  contemptuously  spurned  the  proposition.  Frederick-William  and 
Alexander  then  concluded  an  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive.  Austria 
decided  to  remain  neutral.  Hostilities  immediately  began.  The  French 
quitted  Berlin  and  Dresden.  The  old  spirit  of  Germany, — the  spirit  of 
Arminius,  which  eighteen  centuries  before  had  driven  the  Roman  legions 
beyond  the  Rhine, — had  again  awakened.  Secret  societies  had  cherished  this 
spirit,  and  now  it  no  longer  needed  to  be  secret.  The  preacher  called  upon 
his  congregation  to  arm  ;  the  professor  told  his  class  that  they  must  now 
learn  to  fight.  At  nightfall  in  every  city  bands  of  young  Germans  shouted 
forth  the  songs  of  Arndt ;  and  every  student  and  every  apprentice  could  join 
in  the  chorus  of  “  Was  ist  der  Deutschen  Vaterland.”  In  the  mean  time, 
Prance,  weeping  for  her  children,  still  crouched  at  the  feet  of  her  master. 

The  senate  were  now  called  upon  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  emperor 
half  a  million  of  conscripts.  He  took  the  field  in  the  middle  of  April.  He 
could  reckon  upon  collecting  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  troops  before 
Russia  and  Prussia  could  concentrate  an  equal  force.  But  of  his  forces  four- 
fifths  were  young  soldiers  ;  the  other  fifth  were  Germans.  He  left  Erfurt  to 
march  upon  Leipzig.  On  the  2d  of  May  he  fought  the  battle  of  Liitzen,  and 
defeated  the  combined  Russian  and  Prussian  army.  His  victory  gave  him 


300 


FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN. 


[1812 

possession  of  Leipzig  and  of  Dresden.  On  the  20th  and  21st  of  May  the 
two  armies  renewed  the  struggle  at  Bautzen.  The  slaughter  oq  each  side  was 
nearly  equal.  The  allies  retreated  ;  but  Napoleon  did  not  attempt  to  follow 
up  the  success  which  he  had  achieved  at  a  prodigious  loss,  which  told  him 
that  such  days  as  Austerlitz  and  Jena  were  not  likely  to  recur.  An  armistice 
was  agreed  upon,  to  extend  from  the  5th  of  June  to  the  22d  of  July.  Bona¬ 
parte  spent  this  period  in  Berlin  trying  to  deceive  the  powers  by  pretending 
to  devote  himself  to  ease  and  pleasure,  but  he  was  really  preparing  for  the 
coming  contest.  The  duke  of  Wellington  gained  a  decided  victory  at 
Vittoria  on  the  19th  of  June,  over  Joseph  Bonaparte  and  Marshal  Jourdan. 
Then  followed  repeated  victories  over  the  French  in  Spain  by  the  allied 
forces.  The  spirit  of  Europe  was  thoroughly  aroused  and  the  spell  was 
broken.  In  all  Europe  and  even  in  France  the  feeling  was  growing  that  the 
world  had  had  “  enough  of  Bonaparte.”  Prussia  was  burning  to  wipe  out  the 
disgrace  of  Jena  and  the  bitter  humiliation  which  followed.  An  alliance  was 
formed  between  Prussia  and  the  Emperor  Alexander  ;  at  first  Austria  stood 
neutral,  but  subsequently  joined  it.  The  exalted  military  genius  of  Napoleon 
never  shone  more  brightly  than  in  the  campaign  which  resulted  in  his  down¬ 
fall.  The  opening  battles  were  successful :  that  at  Ltitzen,  May  2d,  at  Baut¬ 
zen,  May  2 1st,  and  Dresden,  August  24th,  25th  and  27th,  but  an  invincible 
determination,  which  made  these  last  victories  well  nigh  fruitless,  had  seized 
the  allied  powers.  They  were  thoroughly  convinced  that  one  grand  victory 
by  them  would  neutralize  all  the  advantages  gained  by  Napoleon.  And  the 
issue  proved  that  they  were  correct.  Napoleon  had  won  his  last  victory. 
Then  followed  a  series  of  disasters  on  the  26th  of  August  in  the  battle  of 
Katzbach,  in  which  the  French  lost  twen,ty-five  thousand  men,  and  then  the 
defeat  of  Vandamme  on  the  Zo.  The  Swedes,  Prussians  and  Russians  had 
won  the  field  of  Gross-Buren  the  23d  of  August.  General  Ney  was  defeated 
at  the  battle  of  Denniwitz  on  September  3d.  On  the  8th  of  October  the 
king  of  Bavaria  was  obliged  to  join  the  allies.  Napoleon  saw  that  these 
reverses  were  not  transitory  misfortunes  that  could  easily  be  retrieved. 
When  he  heard  of  the  defeat  of  Vandamme  he  exclaimed  :  “  This  is  war  : — 

I 

high  in  the  morning,  low  at  night.”  The  morning  had  now  little  sunshine. 
He  determined  to  fight  his  way  to  the  Rhine,  though  all  Germany  was  rising 
against  him.  To  Leipzig  he  directed  his  march.  He  arrived  in  its  neighbor¬ 
hood  on  the  15th  of  October.  The  Russians  and  Prussians  were  advancing  to 
the  same  point.  On  the  16th  he  was  attacked  at  the  village  of  Wachau,  near 
Leipzig.  The  action  was  not  decisive  ;  but  for  Napoleon  not  to  win  triumph¬ 
antly  was  in  itself  defeat.  On  that  day  Bernadotte  had  not  come  up.  There 
was  a  doubt  at  the  Prussian  head-quarters  whether  the  crown  prince  of 
Sweden  would  be  staunch.  The  amateur  soldier,  Professor  Steffens,  was  sent 
to  search  for  him  after  the  battle  of  the  16th  had  begun.  “  It  was  not  till 
night,”  he  says,  “  that  I  made  him  out  at  Landsberg,  in  miserable  quarters, 
surrounded  by  Swedish  officers.  He  lay  on  a  mattress  spread  on  the  floor  of 
a  desolate,  nearly  empty  room.  The  dark  Gascon  face,  with  the  prominent 


Marshal  Bliicher  defeats  the  French  on  the  Katzbach,  August  26th,  1813. 

Page  300. 


FRANCE.— THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN. 


301 


1812] 

nose  and  the  relaxing  chin,  was  sharply  relieved  against  the  white  bed-clothes 
and  the  laced  night-cap.”  Steffens  explained  the  object  of  his  mission. 
Bernadotte  promised  to  march  directly,  and  he  kept  his  promise.  On  the 
17th  there  was  a  pause.  Napoleon  had  been  secretly  making  propositions  for 
an  armistice.  His  father-in-law  and  Alexander  returned  no  answer.  The 
battle  was  fought  on  the  18th  and  decided  the  fate  of  Napoleon.  The 
French  were  defeated  and  marched  out  of  Leipzig  on  the  morning  of  the  19th 
before  daybreak.  Then  commenced  the  disastrous  retreat  toward  Paris, 
closely  followed  by  the  allied  forces.  Napoleon  won  his  last  victory  at 
Hannau  on  the  30th  and  31st  of  October,  1813.  His  last  fight  on  German 
soil  resulted  in  a  victory,  but  it  could  not  stay  his  retreat.  He  crossed  the 
Rhine  November  22d. 

On  the  14th  of  November  the  senate  of  France  presented  an  address  to 
Napoleon  at  the  Tuileries.  In  his  answer  he  said,  “  A  year  ago  all  Europe 
marched  with  us :  now  all  Europe  is  marching  against  us.  It  is  because  the 
opinion  of  the  world  is  formed  by  France  or  by  England.  We  should  have 
everything  to  fear  but  for  the  energy  and  power  of  the  nation.”  The  senate 
at  once  gave  him  three  hundred  thousand  conscripts.  In  all,  France  had  sacri¬ 
ficed,  from  September,  1805,  to  November  15th,  1813,  no  less  than  2,103,000  of 
her  sons. 

Two  columns  of  the  allies  marched  upon  Paris.  On  the  20th  of  January, 
1814,  the  battle  of  Brienne  was  fought,  but  it  decided  nothing.  By  a  rapid 
and  daring  movement  Napoleon  put  himself  in  the  rear  of  the  allied  forces. 
A  hard  battle  was  fought  in  the  defense  of  the  capital  on  March  30th,  and  on 
the  31st  Paris  capitulated.  Napoleon  abdicated  and  retired  to  the  Island  of 
Elba,  but  the  allied  powers  recalled  Louis  XVIII.,  who  entered  Paris  on  the 
3d  of  May  amid  the  shouts  of  Vive  le  Roi .  The  king  promised  the  French  a 
constitutional  government. 


XXI. 


Ti  HUNDRED  DATS. -WATERLOO. 


HE  diary  of  Mr.  Abbot,  the  speaker  of  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  for  the  month  of  March,  1815,  con¬ 
tains  brief  but  remarkable  entries,  which  may  suggest 
some  notion  of  the  agitation  of  the  public  mind  when 
the  news  came  of  two  most  unexpected  and  untoward 
events. 

“  March  8th. — News  arrived  this  day  of  the  failure  of 
the  attack  on  New  Orleans;  and  the  loss  of  General  Pakenham, 
General  Gibbs,  and  twenty-five  hundred  men  killed  and 
wounded.” 

“  March  10th. — News  arrived  of  Bonaparte  having  escaped 
from  Elba,  and  landing  at  Antibes  with  one  thousand  men.” 

The  second  startling  piece  of  intelligence,  following  so 
close  upon  the  announcement  of  a  great  defeat  of  the  British 
army  in  America,  might  have  suggested  to  many  a  belief  that 
the  treaty  of  peace  and  amity  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  signed  at  Ghent  on  the  24th  of  December,  had 
aot  been  ratified ;  that  the  escape  of  Bonaparte  had  been  anticipated  by  his 
democratic  friends  in  America;  and  that  a  war  in  both  hemispheres  would 
make  the  peace  as  perishable  as  “  The  Temple  of  Concord,”  splendid  with 
lamps  and  fireworks  for  a  few  hours,  upon  which  the  people  had  gazed  in  the 
Green  Park  on  the  night  of  the  1st  of  August.  The  peace  of  Ghent  had 
nevertheless  been  duly  ratified.  At  four  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of 
March,  the  troops,  in  number  about  eight  hundred,  with  Napoleon  at  their 
head,  attended  by  his  old  companions  in  arms,  Bertrand,  Drouet,  and  Cam- 
bronne,  commenced  their  march  north  on  the  road  to  Grasse ;  and  possibly 
skirted  Cannes  on  the  east  side,  which  quarter  has  been  almost  entirely  built 
since  1815. 

This  landing  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Juan  on  the  1st  of  March  was  the  intn> 
ductory  scene  to  the  great  drama  called  “The  Hundred  Days.”  These  count 
from  the  13th  of  March,  when  Napoleon  assumed  the  government,  to  the  22d 
of  June,  when  he  abdicated. 

The  secret  departure  from  Elba  was  not  known  to  the  sovereigns  of 
Austria,  Prussia  and  Russia,  and  to  the  representatives  of  the  other  European 
powers  assembled  in  congress  at  Vienna,  till  the  7th  of  March,  when  the 
duke  of  Wellington  received  a  dispatch  from  Lord  Burghersh,  the  British 


Napoleon  s  return  from  Elba.  “  Who  dares  to  shoot  at  his  Emperor  V  ” 

C.  E.  Delort.  Page  301. 


•x'k 


303 


1 8 1 5]  FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  DAYS.— WATERLOO. 

minister  at  Florence,  announcing  the  astounding  fact.  It  was  some  days 
afterward  before  the  landing  near  Cannes  and  the  march  toward  Grasse  were 
known  at  Vienna.  Such  was  the  slowness  of  communication  that  on  the  5th 
of  March  it  was  not  known  in  Paris  that  the  ex-emperor  had  quitted  the  terri¬ 
tory  all  too  narrow  for  his  ambition.  Let  us,  before  proceeding  to  relate  the 
progress  and  issue  of  this  great  adventure,  take  a  retrospect  of  the  events  that 
had  followed  Napoleon’s  abdication  on  the  4th  of  April,  1814 — eleven  months 
of  false  confidence  and  hollow  peace. 

The  4th  of  June,  1814,  was  an  exciting  day  for  Paris;  an  important  day 
for  the  future  tranquility  of  France  and  of  Europe.  A  constitutional  charter 
was  that  day  to  be  promulgated  by  the  restored  king ;  and,  on  the  same  day, 
the  last  of  the  allied  troops  were  to  quit  the  capital.  Louis  XVIII.  was  to 
be  left  in  the  midst  of  his  subjects,  without  the  guarantee  for  his  safety  which 
some  associated  with  the  continued  presence  of  the  armed  foreigners.  The 
charter  created  a  chamber  of  peers,  of  about  one  hundred  and  forty  mem¬ 
bers,  named  for  life  by  the  king.  These  took  the  place  of  the  servile  flatter¬ 
ers  of  Napoleon,  called  the  senate.  The  composition  of  this  new  body  was 
an  approach  to  impartiality  in  the  union  of  members  of  the  old  noblesse  with 
a  remnant  of  the  senate,  and  of  generals  of  the  army  before  the  revolution, 
with  marshals  of  the  empire.  By  the  charter,  a  representative  body  was  also 
created,  with  very  sufficient  authority,  and  especially  with  the  power  of  deter¬ 
mining  the  taxes  to  be  levied  on  the  people.  The  letter  of  the  ancient  feudal¬ 
ism  had  perished.  But  its  spirit  lingered  in  the  very  date  of  this  charter.  It 
was  held  that  Louis  XVIII.  began  to  reign  when  Louis  XVII.,  the  unhappy 
son  of  Louis  XVI.,  was  released  by  death  from  his  miseries.  The  charter 
“given  at  Paris  in  the  year  of  grace  1814,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  our  reign,” 
was  an  emanation  of  the  royal  bounty.  The  king  was  declared  by  the  chan¬ 
cellor,  in  his  speech  of  the  4th  of  June,  to  be  “in  full  possession  of  his  hered¬ 
itary  rights,”  but  that  he  had  himself  placed  limits  to  the  power  which  he  had 
received  from  God  and  his  fathers. 

The  constitutional  charter  was  in  some  degree  the  work  of  the  king  him¬ 
self,  inasmuch  as  he  had  greatly  modified  a  charter  presented  to  him  by  the 
senate,  which  he  found  busy  upon  a  constitution  after  Napoleon’s  abdication. 
The  substance,  and  even  the  forms  of  liberty,  having  perished  during  the  con¬ 
sulate  and  the  empire,  the  change  was  great  when  freedom  of  speech  and  of 
writing  were  possible ;  when  a  senate  and  a  representative  body  could  debate 
without  reserve  and  vote  without  compulsion. 

When  the  powers  who  had  signed  the  treaty  of  Paris  assembled  in 
congress  at  Vienna  on  the  30th  of  March  they  were  informed  of  the 
escape  of  Napoleon  and  his  entrance  into  France.  They  at  once  pub¬ 
lished  a  declaration  which  showed  conclusively  that  there  must  be  a 
renewed  trial  of  strength  more  or  less  severe.  The  4th  of  April  the  duke 
of  Wellington  arrived  in  Brussels  to  devise  measures  for  the  defense  of 
the  Netherlands.  The  ex-emperor  had  marched  from  Cannes  to  Grenoble 
and  encountered  no  opposition.  He  had  been  in  communication  with 


304 


FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  DAYS.— WATERLOO.  [1815 


Labedoyere,  who  was  an  officer  of  the  garrison  at  Grenoble,  and  this 
young  colonel  was  ready  with  the  men  he  commanded  to  hoist  the  tri-color. 
General  Marchand,  the  governor  of  Grenoble,  who  was  firm  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  sovereign  of  the  Restoration,  sent  out  a  detachment  to  observe  the 
force  that  was  approaching.  Napoleon  alone  advanced  to  meet  them, 
exclaiming,  “I  am  your  emperor;  fire  on  me  if  you  wish.”  The  soldiers 
threw  themselves  on  their  knees,  and  amid  shouts  of  “  Vive  /’ Empereur” 
joined  his  ranks.  Labedoyere  and  his  men  swelled  the  number,  and  Napo¬ 
leon  entered  Grenoble  amid  the  cheers  of  the  soldiery  and  the  citizens.  On 
the  1 2th  of  March  he  was  at  Lyons,  from  which  city  he  issued  his  decrees, 
which  showed  that  he  assumed  supreme  authority.  On  the  7th  of  March 
Marshal  Ney  had  left  the  king,  saying  that  he  would  bring  the  ex-emperor 
back  in  an  iron  cage,  but  on  the  14th  the  marshal  issued  his  orders  at  Auxerre 
in  favor  of  Napoleon.  On  the  19th  of  March  the  king  dissolved  the  chamber 
of  deputies  and  on  the  20th  left  the  Tuileries.  On  the  21st  Napoleon  slept 
there,  having  been  borne  up  the  grand  staircase  by  an  enthusiastic  crowd. 
On  April  30th  he  issued  a  decree  convoking  the  electoral  college  for  the  nom¬ 
ination  of  deputies.  The  greater  number  of  people  abstained  from  voting. 
In  an  assembly  of  two  hundred  thousand  people  of  both  sexes  Napoleon 
announced  that  the  wishes  of  the  nation  had  brought  him  back  to  Ins  throne 
and  his  whole  thoughts  were  turned  to  the  “  founding  our  liberty  on  a  consti¬ 
tution  resting  on  the  wishes  and  interests  of  the  people.”  This  constitution 
was  called  “Acte  additionel  aux  Constitutions  de  l'Empire.”  It  was  a  very 
literal  copy  of  the  charter  of  Louis  XVIII.,  and  had  been  forced  upon  the 
emperor  by  a  party  who  believed  that  a  limited  monarchy,  with  representative 
institutions,  might  be  a  successful  experiment,  whether  under  a  Bourbon  or 
a  Bonaparte.  Napoleon  had  addressed  letters  to  the  European  potentates, 
professing  his  moderate  and  peaceful  intentions.  No  faith  could  be  placed 
in  his  professions,  and  his  letters  were  unanswered.  There  could  only  be 
one  solution  of  the  question  between  Napoleon  and  the  allied  powers.  In 
the  Champ  de  Mai  he  exclaimed,  “  The  princes  who  resist  all  popular  rights 
are  determined  on  war.  For  war  we  must  prepare.”  The  Chambers  com¬ 
menced  their  functions,  not  in  the  old  spirit  of  the  empire,  but  as  if  they 
really  trusted  in  his  promises.  But  Napoleon  would  not  wait  the  attack  of 
his  enemies.  On  June  nth  he  left  Paris  after  he  had  appointed  a  provisional 
government  to  act  in  concert  with  the  Chambers.  On  the  13th  he  was  at 
Avesnes,  and  on  the  15th  had  crossed  the  frontier  at  the  head  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two  thousand  men. 

The  battle  of  Waterloo  was  fought  on  the  18th  of  June,  1815,  on  the 
ground  which  we  call  the  field  of  Waterloo  (although  the  battle  was  fought 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  advance  of  that  village).  Wellington  had  taken 
up  his  position,  with  a  certain  knowledge,  derived  from  several  previous 
examinations,  of  its  capabilities  for  defense.  “  He  used  to  describe  the  line 
of  ground  between  the  farm  of  La  Haye  Sainte  and  Hougoumont  as 
resembling  the  curtain  of  a  bastion,  with  these  two  positions  for  its  angles.” 


Napoleon’s  retreat  from  Waterloo,  June  18th,  1815 
A.  0.  Gow.  Pae:e  304, 


i8 1 5]  FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  DAYS.— WATERLOO. 


305 


The  first  care  of  the  duke  was  to  occupy  with  sufficient  force  these  two 
angles,  Hougoumont,  near  the  Nivelles  road,  in  front  of  the  right  center,  and 
La  Haye  Sainte,  close  to  the  Genappe  road,  in  front  of  the  left  center.  The 
right  of  his  position  was  thrown  back  to  a  ravine  near  Braine  Merbes, 
which  was  occupied  ;  and  its  left  extended  to  the  chateau  of  Frichermont, 
situated  on  a  height  above  the  hamlet  of  La  Haye.  The  undulated  plain 
upon  which  the  army  of  English,  Belgians,  and  Germans  looked  from  the 
ridge  on  which  they  stood  on  the  evening  of  the  17th  was  covered  with  crops 
of  grain,  of  potatoes,  and  of  clover.  It  had  rained  incessantly  through  the 
day ;  as  night  advanced  the  torrents  of  rain  were  accompanied  with  thunder 
and  lightning.  The  troops  had  to  bivouac  upon  the  wet  crops,  while  the 
generals  and  their  staff  obtained  shelter  in  the  adjacent  villages.  Wellington 
had  his  head-quarters  in  a  house  opposite  the  church  at  Waterloo.  At  three 
o’clock  in  the  morning  of  the  18th  be  was  writing  to  Sir  Charles  Stuart  at 
Brussels,  with  a  calm  confidence  in  the  result  of  the  almost  inevitable 
struggle  of  that  day.  “The  Prussians  will  be  ready  again  in  the  morning  for 
anything.  Pray  keep  the  English  quiet  if  you  can.  Let  them  all  prepare  to 
move,  but  neither  be  in  a  hurry  or  a  fright,  as  all  will  yet  turn  out  well.”  At 
the  same  hour  he  wrote  a  long  letter  in  French  to  the  Duke  de  Berri,  in  which 
he  says,  “  I  hope,  and  moreover  I  have  every  reason  to  believe,  that  all  will  go 
well.”  At  the  time  of  writing  this  letter,  only  a  portion  of  the  French  army 
had  taken  up  their  ground  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley,  and  he  thought 
it  possible  that  the  main  attack  might  be  made  at  Hal,  on  the  great  road  from 
Mons  to  Brussels.  He  had  there  stationed  seven  thousand  men.  in  addition 
to  a  large  number  of  troops  under  the  command  of  the  prince  of  Orange. 
The  possible  success  of  the  enemy  there  appeared  to  him  “  the  only  risk  we 
run.”  His  army  was  a  little  superior  in  number  to  that  of  Napoleon,  but 
it  was  inferior  in  artillery.  There  was  however  a  far  greater  disparity.  Well¬ 
ington  commanded  an  army  of  various  nations,  who  had  never  before  fought 
together  ;  and  even  some  of  his  British  troops  were  new  levies.  In  the 
summer  of  1814,  a  large  number  of  his  famous  Peninsular  soldiers  had  been 
sent  to  America.  Napoleon,  on  the  contrary,  had  an  army  which  he  could 
wield  with  the  most  perfect  assurance  of  unity  of  action,  composed  in 
great  part  of  veterans  who  had  returned  to  France  at  the  peace.  When 
Napoleon  saw  the  English  in  position  before  the  forest  of  Soignies,  he 
exclaimed,  “At  last  I  have  them  ;  nine  chances  to  ten  are  in  my  favor.”  He 
was  of  opinion,  in  which  his  generals  agreed  with  him,  that  it  was  contrary 
to  the  most  simple  rules  of  the  art  of  war  for  Wellington  to  remain  in  the 
position  which  he  occupied  *  that  having  behind  him  the  defiles  of  the  forest 
of  Soignies,  if  he  were  beaten  all  retreat  would  be  impossible.  Extensive 
and  compact  as  that  forest  was,  Wellington  knew  that  there  were  many 
roads  through  it,  all  converging  upon  Brussels/most  of  which  were  practicable 
for  cavalry  and  for  artillery,  as  well  as  for  infantry.  “  The  duke,”  says  Lord 
Ellesmere,  “  was  of  opinion  that  his  troops  could  have  retired  perfectly  well 
through  the  wood  of  Soignies,  which,  like  other  beech  woods,  is  open  at 
20 


306  FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  DAYS.— WATERLOO.  [1815 

bottom ;  and  he  was  still  further  satisfied  that,  if  driven  from  the  open  field 
of  Waterloo,  he  could  have  held  the  wood  against  all  comers  till  joined  by 
the  Prussians,  upon  whose  co-operation  he  throughout  depended  and  relied.” 
The  greater  number  of  military  authorities  agree  that  the  position  of  Mont 
St.  Jean  was  well  chosen,  and  suitably  occupied. 

The  allied  troops  had  won  the  victory,  and  Napoleon  had  received  his 
crushing  defeat.  The  allied  armies  lost  twenty-four  thousand  six  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  men,  and  the  French,  eighteen  thousand  five  hundred 
killed  and  wounded,  and  seven  thousand  eight  hundred  prisoners.  After  that 
fatal  night  the  defeated  emperor  hastened  with  all  speed  to  Paris.  The 
Chambers  of  Representatives  met  at  noon  on  that  day  and  declared  itself 
permanent.  It  was  now  determined  that  he  should  abdicate.  Louis  Bona¬ 
parte  urged  the  claims  of  his  brother  to  the  gratitude  of  France.  The  Marquis 
Lafayette  replied  that  “  during  ten  years  three  millions  of  Frenchmen  had 
perished  for  a  man  who  would  still  struggle  against  all  Europe.  We  have 
done  enough  for  him.  Now  our  duty  is  to  save  our  country.”  Napoleon  was 
urged  to  abdicate,  but  he  refused.  He  resisted  for  some  time,  but  at  last 
submitted,  and  dictated  his  abdication  in  favor  of  his  son.  He  said,  “  My 
political  life  is  ended.”  The  government  required  him  to  leave  France  for  the 
United  States.  He  went  to  Rochefort,  and,  not  finding  a  chance  to  escape, 
gave  himself  up  to  the  captain  of  an  English  vessel,  the  Bellerophon,  who 
took  him  to  Plymouth.  On  the  31st  of  July  the  English  government 
decided  that  the  Island  of  St.  Helena  should  be  his  future  home.  He 
protested  that  he  was  not  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  this  question  gave  rise  to 
grave  discussion. 

Lord  Campbell  says 2  “I  think  Lord  Eldon  took  a  much  more  sensible 
view  of  the  subject  than  any  of  them — which  was,  *  that  the  case  was  not 
provided  for  by  anything  to  be  found  in  Grotius  or  Vattel ;  but  that  the  law 
of  self-preservation  would  justify  the  keeping  of  him  under  restraint  in  some 
distant  region,  where  he  should  be  treated  with  all  indulgence  compatible  with 
a  due  regard  for  the  peace  of  mankind.’”  The  probability  is,  that  if 
Napoleon  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Prussians,  who  were  near  Paris  on 
the  29th  of  June,  the  question  of  his  fate  would  have  been  disposed  of  in  a 
much  more  summary  way  than  could  arise  out  of  any  discussion  upon  the  law 
of  nations.  On  the  28th  of  June,  Wellington  wrote  to  Sir  Charles  Stuart : 

“  General - has  been  here  this  day,  to  negotiate  for  Napoleon’s  passing  to 

America,  to  which  proposition  I  have  answered  that  I  have  no  authority. 
The  Prussians  think  the  Jacobins  wish  to  give  him  over  to  me,  believing  that 

I  will  save  his  life.  - [Blticher]  wishes  to  kill  him  ;  but  I  have  told  him  that 

I  shall  remonstrate,  and  shall  insist  upon  his  being  disposed  of  by  common 
accord.  I  have  likewise  said,  that,  as  a  private  friend,  I  advised  him  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  so  foul  a  transaction  ;  that  he  and  I  had  acted  too 
distinguished  parts  in  these  transactions  to  become  executioners  ;  and  that  I 
was  determined  that,  if  the  sovereigns  wished  to  put  him  to  death,  they  should 
appoint  an  executioner,  which  should  not  be  me.”  The  Prussian  General 


1 8 1 5]  FRANCE.— THE  HUNDRED  DAYS.— WATERLOO. 


307 


Muffling  states  in  his  “  Memoirs,”  that  having  been  appointed  to  obtain  the 
concurrence  of  Wellington  in  the  design  of  Bliicher,  that  Napoleon  should  be 
shot  in  the  place  where  the  Duke  d’Enghien  had  been  killed,  Wellington  had 
replied  :  “  Such  an  act  would  disgrace  our  names  in  history,  and  posterity 
would  say  of  us,  ‘  They  were  not  worthy  to  have  been  the  conquerors  of 
Napoleon.’  ”  The  prisoner  of  St.  Helena  repaid  this  conduct  by  bequeathing 
ten  thousand  francs  to  the  man  who  had  attempted  to  assassinate  Wellington, 
during  his  residence  in  Paris  as  the  commander  of  the  army  of  occupation. 
French  historians  have  attempted  to  justify  this  odious  testamentary 
expression  of  Napoleon’s  hatred  of  his  victor,  by  attributing  to  Wellington 
that  he  instigated  the  banishment  to  St.  Helena.  It  is  now  known  that,  as; 
early  as  May,  1814,  the  plenipotentiaries  at  the  congress  of  Vienna  decided,  ini 
secret  conference,  that  if  Napoleon  should  escape  from  Elba,  and  should  fall 
into  the  power  of  the  allies,  a  safer  residence  should  be  assigned  him,  at  St. 
Helena  or  at  St.  Lucia. 

On  the  7th  of  July  the  English  and  Prussian  armies  entered  Paris  and 
took  possession  of  all  the  principal  points.  Louis  XVIII.  returned  on  the 
8th.  Wellington  favored  a  firm  moderation,  but  the  Prussian  General 
Bliicher  was  for  revenge.  When  he  had  begun  to  mine  the  bridge  of  Jena, 
with  the  intention  to  blow  it  up,  because  that  monument  proclaimed  a  defeat 
of  the  Prussian  arms,  “the  duke  of  Wellington,”  says  a  French  historian, 
“  interfered  by  placing  an  English  sentinel  on  the  bridge  itself.  A  single 
sentinel.  He  was  the  British  nation  ;  and  if  Bliicher  had  blown  up  the  bridge, 
the  act  was  to  be  held  as  a  rupture  with  Great  Britain.” 

The  definite  treaty  with  France  was  signed  on  the  20th  of  November, 
1815.  This  left  France  with  the  same  territory  as  the  treaty  of  1814.  The 
general  peace  of  Europe  had  been  settled  previously. 


XXII. 


LOUIS  ML 


HE  peace  of  Europe  was  settled,  as  every  former  peace 
had  been  settled,  upon  a  struggle  for  what  the  conti¬ 
nental  powers  thought  most  conducive  to  their  own 
advantage.  The  representatives  of  Great  Britain  mani¬ 
fested  a  praiseworthy  abnegation  of  more  selfish  inter¬ 
ests.  Napoleon,  at  St.  Helena,  said  to  O’Meara,  “  So 
silly  a  treaty  as  that  made  by  your  ministers  for  their 
own  country  was  never  known  before.  •  You  give  up  every¬ 
thing  and  gain  nothing.”  We  can  now  answer  that  we  gained 
everything  when  we  gained  a  longer  period  of  repose  than 
our  modern  annals  could  before  exhibit. 

Louis  XVIII.  can  scarcely  be  accused  of  blood-thirsti- 
jkD  ness  ;  yet  his  character  would  have  stood  better,  not  only 
with  the  French  people,  but  with  the  British,  had  he  not 
sanctioned  the  condemnation  and  capital  punishment  of  three 
who  had  indeed  betrayed  the  trust  which  the  restored 
government  had  reposed  in  them,  but  who  had  some  excuse 
in  their  inability  to  resist  the  fascinations  of  Napoleon.  Talleyrand  had 
been  unable  to  accomplish  by  negotiation  as  favorable  terms  for  France  as 
he  had  expected,  and  he  resigned  his  office  as  president  of  the  council. 
He  was  succeeded  by  the  Due  de  Richelieu,  who  signed  the  treaty 
of  the  20th  of  November.  While  Talleyrand  remained  in  power  he, 
as  well  as  Fouche,  was  anxious  that  no  capital  punishments  should 
be  inflicted  upon  any  of  those  who  were  proscribed  by  an  ordinance  of 
the  24th  of  July,  for  the  part  they  had  taken  in  the  return  of  Napoleon 
in  March.  Ney,  Labedoyere,  and  Lavalette  were  advised  to  place 
themselves  in  safety  by  leaving  France.  They  were  tardy  and  irresolute  ;  the 
friendly  warning  was  useless.  Labedoyere  was  tried  by  court-martial,  and 
was  shot. '  Lavalette,  who  had  been  condemned  to  death  by  the  Cour 
d’Assise,  escaped  through  a  stratagem  of  his  wife,  who,  having  visited  him  in 
prison,  was  able  to  disguise  her  husband  in  her  own  dress,  remaining  herself 
as  an  object  for  the  possible  vengeance  of  the  Royalists.  Lavalette  was 
assisted  to  pass  the  frontier  by  the  generous  friendship  of  three  Englishmen, 
— Sir  Robert  Wilson,  Mr.  Bruce,  and  Mr.  Hutchinson  ;  who  were  tried  for 
this  offense,  and  sentenced  to  three  months’  imprisonment.  The  proceeding 


1824] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVIII. 


309 


which  most  commanded  public  attention  in  England  was  the  trial  and  execu¬ 
tion  of  Ney ;  for  it  was  held  to  involve  the  honor  of  the  duke  of  Wellington. 
While  the  trial  was  proceeding  before  the  chamber  of  peers,  Ney  was 
advised  to  rely  for  his  defense  on  the  capitulation  of  Paris.  His  wife  had  an 
interview  with  Wellington,  who  had  previously  expressed  his  opinion  in  a  let¬ 
ter  to  the  Prince  de  la  Moskwa, — to  the  effect  that  the  capitulation  related 
exclusively  to  the  military  occupation  of  Paris;  that  the  object  of  the  12th 
article  was  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  any  measures  of  severity,  under  the 
military  authorities  of  those  who  made  it,  toward  any  persons  on  account  of 
the  offices  which  they  filled,  or  their  conduct  or  their  political  opinions. 
“  But  it  was  never  intended,  and  could  not  be  intended,  to  prevent  either 
the  existing  French  government,  under  whose  authority  the  French  com¬ 
mander-in-chief  must  have  acted,  or  any  French  government  which  should 
succeed  to  it,  from  doing  in  this  respect  as  it  might  deem  fit.” 

The  Holy  Alliance  was  a  league  formed  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  by 
the  sovereigns  of  Russia,  Austria  and  Prussia,  nominally  to  regulate  the 
state  of  Christianity  in  Europe,  but  really  to  preserve  the  power  and  influ¬ 
ence  of  the  existing  dynasties.  Most  of  the  other  powers  acceded  to  it, 
and  the  treaty  was  formally  published  in  the  Frankfort  Journal ,  February 
6th,  1816.  It  had  really  been  concluded  personally  by  the  sovereigns  without 
the  countenance  of  their  ministers  at  Paris,  September  26th,  1815.  A 
special  article  of  this  treaty  excluded  forever  the  members  of  the  Bonaparte 
family  from  any  European  throne.  This  alliance  set  up  as  the  principle  of 
conduct  for  the  allied  powers,  “  the  precept  of  justice,  Christian  charity,  and 
peace,”  promising  to  their  nations  a  parental  government,  guaranteeing  fra¬ 
ternity  and  mutual  assistance  in  all  cases,  and  acknowledging  all  of  the 
Christian  name  as  one  nation,  united  under  the  only  supreme  sovereign,  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  English  army  had  remained  for  three  years  in  France,  to  assist  Louis 
XVIII.  in  case  of  any  fresh  outbreak.  Almost  everybody  else  was  forgiven  ; 
and  Prince  Talleyrand,  one  of  the  cleverest  and  most  cunning  men  who  ever 
lived,  who  had  risen  under  Napoleon,  worked  on  still  with  Louis  XVIII. 

It  was  the  saying  in  France  that  in  their  exile  the  Bourbons  had  learned 
nothing  and  forgotten  nothing.  This  was  not  quite  true  of  Louis  XVIII., 
who  was  clever  in  an  indolent  way,  and  resolved  to  please  the  people  enough 
to  remain  where  he  was  till  his  death,  and  really  gave  them  a  very  good 
charter;  only  he  declared  he  gave  it  to  them  by  his  free  grace  as  their  king, 
and  they  wanted  him  to  acknowledge  that  they  had  forced  it  from  royalty  by 
the  revolution.  But  his  brother  Charles,  count  of  Artois,  was  much  more 
strongly  and  openly  devoted  to  the  old  ways  that  came  before  the  revolution, 
and,  as  Louis  had  no  children,  his  accession  was  dreaded.  His  eldest  son,  the 
duke  of  Angouleme,  had  no  children  ;  and  his  second  son,  the  duke  of  Berri, 
who  was  married  to  a  Neapolitan  princess,  was  the  most  amiable  and  hopeful 
person  in  the  family;  but  on  the  12th  of  February,  1820,  he  was  stabbed  by 
a  wretch  called  Louvet,  as  he  was  leaving  the  opera,  and  died  in  a  few  hours. 


3io 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVIII. 


His  infant  son,  Henry,  duke  of  Bordeaux,  was  the  only  hope  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  Bourbons. 

France  was  worn  out  and  weary  of  war,  so  that  little  happened  in  this 
reign,  except  that  the  duke  of  Angouleme  made  an  expedition  to  assist  the 
king  of  Spain  in  putting  down  an  insurrection.  The  French  nobility  had 
returned  to  all  their  titles ;  but  many  of  them  had  lost  all  their  property  in 
the  revolution,  and  hung  about  the  court,  much  needing  offices  and  employ- 
ments ;  while  all  the  generation  who  had  grown  up  among  the  triumphs  of 
Napoleon,  looked  with  contempt  and  dislike  at  the  attempt  to  revive  the  old 
manners  of  conduct  and  thought. 

The  total  evacuation  of  France  by  the  English  troops  left  France  to 
recuperate  from  the  great  disasters  under  the  revolution  and  the  empire. 
The  result  of  the  elections  of  1 8 1 8  seemed  to  arouse  the  nation  to  more 
earnest  war.  Manuel,  Grenier,  Camille,  Jordan,  and  Lafayette,  were  elected. 
A  change  in  the  cabinet  followed.  Great  hopes  were  entertained  by  the 
Liberalists,  but  this  cabinet  was  not  free  in  its  action  and  the  session  of  1819 
produced  no  great  result.  The  succeeding  election  turned  out  favorable  to 
the  constitutional  party,  and  the  government  was  alarmed  and  resolved  to 
make  a  strike  upon  the  constitution.  They  gained  the  king  to  their  side. 
The  liberal  ministry  was  dismissed.  The  duke  of  Richelieu  was  placed  anew 
at  the  head  of  the  ministry.  In  1820,  laws  of  execution  were  passed  which 
destroyed  the  liberty  of  the  press  and  threatened  to  complete  the  abolition 
of  representative  government. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1821,  died  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Six  years  had 
passed  since,  in  the  great  festival  of  the  Champ  de  Mai,  he  had  announced 
that  the  people  who  had  called  him  to  the  throne  must  prepare  for  war.  The 
issue  to  himself  was  his  imprisonment  in  this  lonely  island  of  the  Atlantic, 
long  suffering  under  a  chronic  disease,  and  suffering  more  from  his  total  want 
of  power  to  endure  his  fate  with  equanimity.  A  hurricane  swept  over  the 
island  as  Napoleon  was  dying,  shaking  houses  to  their  foundation,  and  tearing 
up  the  largest  trees.  To  Napoleon  the  war  of  the  elements  seemed  as  if  “  the 
noise  of  battle  hurtled  in  the  air,”  and  he  died  muttering  the  words,  Tete 
cT Armee.  The  death  of  him  who  had  so  long  filled  the  world  with  the  terror 
of  his  name  produced  no  great  sensation  in  England  or  in  Europe. 

The  king  of  France,  in  opening  the  chambers  at  the  end  of  January,  1823, 
left  no  doubt  of  the  intentions  of  the  French  government.  Louis  XVIII. 
announced  that  he  had  recalled  his  minister  at  Madrid,  and  that  a  hundred 
thousand  Frenchmen,  commanded  by  a  prince  of  his  family,  were  ready  to 
march  to  preserve  the  throne  of  Spain  to  a  descendant  of  Henry  the  Fourth. 
He  declared  that  hostilities  should  cease  at  the  moment  ‘‘that  Ferdinand  the 
Seventh  should  be  free  to  give  his  people  the  institutions  which  they  could 
not  hold  except  from  him.”  The  French  invaded  Spain.  England  had  taken 
her  stand  upon  a  principle,  but  that  attitude  did  not  involve  the  necessity  of 
going  to  war.  Mr.  Canning  declared  in  Parliament  that  the  king’s  government 
would  abide  by  a  system  of  neutrality,  except  under  certain  conditions.  If 


1824] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  XVIII. 


3ir 

Portugal  were  to  be  attacked,  such  an  assault  would  bring  Great  Britain  into 
the  field  with  all  her  force  to  support  the  independence  of  her  ancient  and 

faithful  ally.  The  French  armies  marched  to  Madrid,  which  they  occupied 
on  the  24th  of  May.  They  overran  Spain,  they  accomplished  the  release 
of  Ferdinand,  who  had  been  detained  at  Cadiz;  the  cortes  were  overturned. 
Spain  entered  upon  that  long  night  of  tyranny  and  superstition  which  left  her 
among  the  feeblest  and  most  degraded  of  nations.  Such  was  the  position  of 
affairs  at  the  close  of  1823. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  a  month  only  before  the  decease  of  Louis,  the 
censorship  of  journals  was  re-established  by  a  royal  ordinance.  The  state  of 
the  king’s  health  appeared  to  the  minister,  M.  de  Villele,  to  require  that  the 
government  should  have  in  its  hands  this  power  of  controlling  the  press. 
The  good  sense  of  Louis  XVIII.,  and  his  desire  to  govern  as  far  as  possible 
in  an  enlightened  and  liberal  spirit,  preserved  France  during  his  reign  from 
any  popular  convulsion.  Under  the  charter  the  struggles  of  parties  were  of 
a  constitutional  character.  There  were  great  orators  in  the  chamber  of 
deputies  who  were  opposed  to  the  government ;  there  were  bitter  satirists  in 
prose  and  verse,  such  as  Courier  and  Beranger,  who  attacked  the  ultra-royalist 
party  and  the  priestly  party  with  unsparing  ridicule ;  nevertheless,  the  nation 
had  not  arrived  at  the  belief  that  another  vital  change  in  its  institutions  was 
necessary,  and  was  content  to  confide  in  the  power  of  the  charter  gradually 
to  repair  its  own  deficiencies. 


XXIII. 


I. 


OUIS  XVIII.  died  September  16th.  Charles  X.  came 
to  the  throne.  The  French  saw  the  change  with 
something  like  dread,  for  he  was  considered  the 
representative  of  ultra-royalist  opinions.  He  at 
once  manifested  a  solicitude  that  the  people  should 
accept  him  as  a  constitutional  king.  His  first  act  was 
«•  /  to  abolish  the  censorship  of  the  journals.  He  said  to 

the  peers  and  deputies  that  his  great  desire  was  to  consolidate  the 
charter  for  the  happiness  of  his  people.  He  promised  to  each 
religious  body  protection  for  its  worship.  The  ceremony  of 
consecrating  the  king  at  Reims  was  little  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  or  the  general  character  of  the  French.  The 
people  laughed  and  sneered  when  the  Moniteur  said  : — “  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  holy  oil  which  will  flow  on  the  forehead  of 
Charles  X.  in  the  solemnity  of  his  consecration,  is  the  same  as 
that  which,  since  the  time  of  Clovis,  has  consecrated  the  French 
kings.”  Napoleon  putting  the  crown  upon  his  own  head  was  a 
fitter  type  of  popular  sovereignty  in  France  than  Charles  X.  anointed  in  seven 
parts  of  his  body  by  the  archbishop  of  Reims.  Nevertheless,  the  king  had 
solemnly  promised  to  maintain  the  charter,  and  the  obsolete  pageantries  of 
his  coronation  were  not  imputed  to  him  as  a  fault.  The  people  had  soon  to 
learn  how  little  dependence  could  be  placed  upon  the  professions,  and  even 
upon  the  liberal  actions,  of  their  new  king.  “  Without  false  calculation  or 
premeditated  deceit,  Charles  X.  wavered  from  contradiction  to  contradiction, 
from  inconsistency  to  inconsistency,  until  the  day  when,  given  up  to  his  own 
will  and  belief,  he  committed  the  error  which  cost  him  his  throne.”  He  was 
at  heart  “  a  true  emigrant  and  a  submissive  bigot.” 

M.  de  Villele’s  career,  as  the  chief  minister  of  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles 
X.,  had  been  of  a  longer  duration  than  might  have  been  expected  from  the 
discordant  elements  by  which  he  was  surrounded.  For  six  years  he  had  been 
the  presiding  spirit  of  the  government.  When  he  entered  upon  power  he 
said,  “  I  am  born  for  the  end  of  revolutions.”  This  belief  had  little  of  the 
spirit  of  prophecy,  however  the  prudence  and  sagacity  of  this  minister  might 
have  retarded  that  isolation  of  the  ruler  from  the  ruled,  which  is  the 
beginning  of  revolutions.  The  elections  of  1827  were  unfavorable  to  the 
government ;  and  the  minister,  not  having  the  cordial  support  of  the  whole 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


313 


183c] 

Royalist  party,  was  compelled  to  retire  from  office.  The  dauphiness  said  to 
the  king,  “  In  abandoning  M.  de  Villele,  you  have  descended  the  first  step  of 
your  throne.”  M.  de  Martignac  became  the  head  of  the  cabinet  which 
replaced  that  of  M.  de  Villele.  His  tendencies  were  liberal  and  consti¬ 
tutional  ;  his  talents  had  not  their  proper  influence  either  with  the  king  or 
the  chambers.  He  did  what  was  in  his  power  to  prevent  the  measures  of 
repression  which  one  party  desired,  and  to  carry  forward  those  measures  of 
conciliation  which  he  thought  would  retard  a  rupture  between  the  throne  and 
the  nation.  Lafayette  characterized  the  policy  of  Martignac  in  a  very 
significant  sentence :  “  Three  steps  forward  and  two  backward,  we  have  the 
net  product  of  one  little  step.”  To  move  forward  at  all,  and  not  have  the 
power  of  carrying  the  chambers  in  a  retrogressive  policy,  was  held  at  the 
Tuileries  to  be  the  fault  of  this  minister.  In  August,  1829,  a  royal  ordinance 
appeared  changing  the  whole  of  the  ministry,  and  finally  appointing  Prince 
Jules  de  Polignac  president  of  the  council.  The  prince  had  been  ambassador 
to  England  ;  and  many  of  the  French,  and  not  a  few  of  the  English,  chose 
to  believe  that  he  had  been  appointed  to  his  post  through  the  influence  of 
the  duke  of  Wellington,  and  that  his  subsequent  measures  were  taken  in 
concert  with  the  English  cabinet.  Sir  Robert  Peel,  on  the  2d  of  November, 
1830,  emphatically  denied  that  the  government  of  his  country,  directly,  or  in¬ 
directly,  had  interfered  in  this  appointment.  In  the  choice  of  Polignac  as  his 
prime  minister,  “  Charles  X.,”  says  M.  Guizot,  “  had  hoisted  upon  the  Tuileries 
the  flag  of  the  counter-revolution.”  On  the  2d  of  March,  1830,  the  chambers 
were  opened.  There  was  a  half  menace  in  the  royal  speech,  which  appeared 
to  presage  some  exercise  of  arbitrary  power.  “  If  criminal  maneuvers  were 
to  place  obstacles  in  the  way  of  my  government,  which  I  neither  can,  nor 
wish  to  foresee,  I  should  find  the  power  of  surmounting  them  in  a  resolution 
to  maintain  the  public  peace,  in  the  just  confidence  of  the  French  people, 
and  in  the  devotion  which  they  have  always  demonstrated  for  their  king.” 
The  address  of  the  chamber  of  deputies,  which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of 
221  to  1 8 1 ,  affirmed  that  it  was  their  duty  to  declare  to  the  king  that  the 
charter  supposed,  in  order  to  its  working,  a  concurrence  between  the  mind  of 
the  sovereign  and  the  interests  of  his  people;  that  it  was  their  painful  duty 
to  declare  that  such  concurrence  existed  no  longer,  as  the  administration 
ordered  all  its  acts  upon  the  supposition  of  the  disaffection  of  the  people. 
The  next  day  the  chambers  were  prorogued  till  the  1st  of  September.  On 
the  16th  of  May  they  were  dissolved.  New  elections  were  ordered  for  June 
and  July,  and  the  parliament  so  elected  was  to  meet  on  the  3rd  of  August. 
Most  men  saw  clearly  that  a  great  struggle  was  at  hand.  The  duke  of 
Orleans,  on  the  31st  of  May,  gave  a  fete  in  honor  of  his  brother-in-law,  the 
king  of  Naples,  at  the  Palais  Royal,  at  which  Charles  X.  and  the  royal  family 
were  present.  M.  de  Salvandy  said  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  “  This  is  truly  a 
Neapolitan  festival  ;  we  are  dancing  on  a  volcano.”  The  duke  agreed  with 
him,  adding  that  he  would  not  have  to  reproach  himself  with  making  no 
effort  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  king.  “  What  am  I  to  do?  Nothing  is 


3*4 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


[1824 


listened  to.  Heaven  only  knows  where  they  will  be  in  six  months.  But  I 
well  know  where  I  shall  be.  Under  any  circumstances  my  family  and  I 
remain  in  this  palace.” 

On  the  1 2th  of  July,  during  the  progress  of  the  French  elections,  the 
news  arrived  of  the  capture  of  Algiers.  For  two  or  three  years  the  French 
government  had  been  carrying  on  a  small  war  against  that  barbarian  power. 

On  Monday  morning,  the  26th  of  July,  while  the  population  of  Paris 
were  quietly  proceeding  to  their  various  duties  or  pleasures,  Paris  was  shaken 
to  its  center  as  by  a  political  earthquake.  Before  the  doors  of  the  Bourse 
were  opened,  the  holders  of  stock  were  crowding  thither  to  sell.  More 
important  than  the  operations  of  commerce  were  the  proceedings  of  the 
journalists.  The  proprietors  and  editors  of  the  chief  opposition  papers  took 
a  wise  and  prudent  course  in  the  first  instance.  They  consulted  the  most 
eminent  lawyers,  who  gave  their  opinion  that  the  ordinances  were  illegal,  and 
ought  not  to  be  submitted  to.  One  of  the  judges  of  the  Tribunal  of  First 
Instance  authorized  the  Journal  of  Commerce  to  continue  its  publication 
provisionally,  because  the  ordinances  had  not  been  promulgated  in  legal 
forms.  Forty-four  conductors  of  newspapers  assembled  at  the  office  of  the 
National,  signed  a  protest  in  which  they  declared  their  intention  to 
resist  the  ordinances  as  regarded  their  own  interests,  and  invited  the  deputies 
to  meet  on  the  3d  of  August  as  if  no  decree  had  gone  forth  for  new 
elections.  The  government,  said  this  protest,  has  this  day  lost  that  character 
of  legality  which  commands  obedience,  we  resist  it  as  far  as  we  are  con¬ 
cerned  ;  it  remains  for  France  to  judge  how  far  it  should  carry  its  own 
resistance.  On  that  Monday  there  was  no  appearance  of  popular  insurrec¬ 
tion.  There  was  occasionally  a  cry  in  the  streets  of  “  Long  live  the  Charter! 
— Down  with  the  ministers  !  ” 

The  next  day  a  more  ominous  cry  went  forth — “Up  with  Liberty — 
Down  with  the  Bourbons!”  The  provisions  of  the  decrees  respecting  the 
Press  were  to  be  carried  through  by  naked  force.  Four  of  the  most  popular 
journals  had  been  printed  without  the  license  which  was  required  by  the 
ordinance.  Sentinels  were  placed  around  the  offices  to  prevent  their  sales ; 
but  copies  of  the  journals,  which  not  only  contained  the  ordinances,  but  the 
protest  of  the  journalists,  were  thrown  out  of  the  windows,  and  were  quickly 
circulated  throughout  Paris.  The  old  scenes  of  the  revolution  of  1789  were 
rapidly  developed.  In  the  Palais  Royal,  and  other  public  places,  men 
mounted  upon  chairs  read  the  ordinances  and  the  bitter  comments  upon 
them  to  assembled  crowds.  The  steps  taken  by  the  police  to  prevent  the 
further  issue  of  these  papers  were  calculated  to  stimulate  the  excitement  of 
the  people  into  absolute  fury.  The  doors  of  the  offices  where  they  were 
printed  were  broken  open,  and  the  presses  rendered  unserviceable.  The 
printers  thrown  out  of  their  employ  joined  the  crowds  in  the  streets;  and 
they  are  not  a  class  to  be  injured  without  lifting  up  their  voices  against  the 
wrong.  In  the  course  of  that  Tuesday  the  resistance  to  the  acts  of  the 
government  began  to  be  transferred  to  men  who  might  have  been  able  to 


1830] 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


315 


guide  its  course  more  safely  than  the  declamation  of  the  journalist  or  the 
passions  of  the  populace.  The  deputies  were  beginning  to  arrive  in  Paris. 
M.  Guizot  describes  how,  on  reaching  the  city  on  the  morning  of  the  27th,  he 
found  a  note  from  M.  Casimir  Perier,  inviting  him  to  a  meeting  of  some  of 
their  colleagues.  “  A  few  hours  before,”  he  says,  “  and  within  a  short 
distance  of  Paris,  the  decrees  were  unknown  to  me  ;  and,  by  the  side  of 
legal  opposition,  I  saw  on  my  arrival  revolutionary  and  unchained  insurrec¬ 
tion.”  He  went  to  the  meeting  at  the  house  of  M.  Casimir  Perier  and  was 
selected  with  two  others  to  draw  up  a  protest  in  the  name  of  the  deputies 
against  the  decrees.  This  protest  was  adopted  on  the  28th  and  signed  by 
sixty-three  deputies. 

Then  followed  the  fearful  “  three  days  of  J uly.”  The  people  were  aroused 
against  the  king.  From  daybreak  multitudes  had  begun  to  assemble,  armed 
with  sticks  and  pikes,  old  guns  and  sabers.  They  unpaved  the  streets  ;  they 
threw  up  barricades  of  timber  and  of  carts  filled  with  the  paving-stones ;  they 
seized  the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  they  hoisted  the  tri-colored  flag  on  its  roof,  and 
on  the  towers  of  Notre-Dame.  The  bells  of  the  municipal  palace  and  of  the 
metropolitan  church  again  called  the  citizens  to  arms  as  in  the  days  of  the 
first  revolution.  Terror  was  in  every  family  now  as  then  ;  but  there  were  no 
frightful  excesses,  no  sanguinary  scenes  of  popular  vengeance,  to  make  even 
the  name  of  liberty  hateful.  The  people  stood  prepared  for  the  struggle  with 
the  regular  troops  that  were  coming  upon  them — for  Paris,  on  that  morning 
of  the  28th,  had  been  declared  by  the  government  to  be  in  a  state  of  siege. 
Marmont  had  not  begun  to  act  after  receiving  the  ordinance,  which  thus 
declared  that  the  military  power  was  the  sole  arbiter,  before  the  insurgents 
were  in  possession  of  the  chief  part  of  the  capital.  He  finally  formed  his 
troops  in  four  columns,  which  were  directed  upon  different  points.  It  was 
not  long  before  the  sanguinary  conflict  began.  It  would  be  beyond  the  object 
of  this  history,  even  if  it  were  in  the  power  of  the  writer,  to  furnish  a  clear 
detail  in  a  small  compass  of  the  struggles  of  this  memorable  day.  Those  who 
witnessed  some  of  the  many  occurrences  which  were  proceeding  simulta¬ 
neously  in  distant  parts  of  Paris  felt  this  difficulty  in  the  subsequent  discharge 
of  their  official  duty.  “  The  events,”  said  M.  Martignac,  in  the  defense  of 
Polignac,  “  so  press  upon,  jostle  and  confound  each  other,  that  the  imagination 
can  scarcely  follow  them,  or  the  understanding  range  them  in  order.”  The 
first  serious  fighting  appears  to  have  taken  place  in  the  narrow  street  of 
St.  Antoine,  which  was  closed  by  barricades.  From  the  houses  approaching 
this  street  paving-stones,  broken  bottles,  and  even  articles  of  furniture,  were 
showered  upon  the  heads  of  the  unfortunate  soldiery.  The  column  which 
was  ordered  to  force  this  street  returned  to  the  Tuileries  where  Marmont  had 
his  head-quarters.  Another  column  had  to  sustain  an  obstinate  fight  about 
the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  general  who  commanded  the  troops  obtained  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  place,  but  he  was  compelled  to  confine  his  resistance  to  the  popu* 
lace  to  defensive  operations.  Another  column  lost  many  men  at  the  Marche 
des  Innocens.  The  fourth  column  sustained  less  loss.  Night  came  on.  The 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


[1824 


316 

firing  was  still  continued  ;  the  tocsin  was  rung  from  every  church  ;  the  lamps 
were  extinguished  in  the  streets.  Neither  mail  nor  diligence  left  Paris.  The 
communication  with  the  provinces  by  telegraph  was  cut  off.  During  the 
afternoon  five  deputies  headed  by  M.  Lafitte  had  waited  upon  Marshal 
Marmont  at  the  Tuileries  to  ask  for  a  suspension  of  hostilities,  that  in  the 
interval  they  might  send  a  deputation  to  the  king.  The  marshal  said  he  could 
only  dispatch  a  messenger  to  the  king  to  inform  him  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  assembled  deputies  and  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Paris.  His  aide-de-camp 
received  at  St.  Cloud  a  verbal  answer  directing  Marmont  to  hold  out,  to 
collect  his  forces,  and  to  act  in  masses.  In  conformity  with  these  orders  the 
column  which  had  held  the  Hotel  de  Ville  returned  at  midnight  to  the  Tuil¬ 
eries,  having  left  in  the  streets  several  hundred  men  killed  or  wounded.  The 
king  in  his  suburban  palace  had  no  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
danger  ;  but  was  passing  his  evening  at  cards,  while  the  court  routine  went 
forward  as  if  the  distant  boom  of  the  cannon  was  a  sound  which  should 
inspire  no  fear  and  awaken  little  sympathy. 

On  the  28th  the  working  classes  had  almost  exclusively  borne  the  brunt 
of  the  battle.  On  the  morning  of  the  29th,  hostilities  had  again  commenced 
by  seven  o’clock.  National  Guards,  young  students,  and  even  deputies,  were 
now  at  the  barricades.  The  stately  Faubourg  St.  Germain  was  now  as  ready 
for  battle  as  the  dingy  Faubourg  St.  Antoine.  The  posts  of  the  Luxembourg 
were  disarmed.  At  a  very  early  hour  several  Royalists  of  high  rank  went  to 
the  Tuileries  and  had  an  interview  with  Marmont  and  Polignac.  They  urged 
the  minister  to  recall  the  ordinances.  He  was  calm  and  polite,  but  would 
promise  nothing.  He  would  consult  his  colleagues.  They  then  suggested  to 
Marmont  that  he  should  arrest  the  ministers.  He  seemed  somewhat  inclined 
to  take  their  advice,  when  Peyronnet,  one  of  the  most  obnoxious  of  the  cabi¬ 
net,  came  in,  and  exclaimed,  “What!  are  you  not  gone  yet?”  They  had 
stated  their  intention  to  go  to  St.  Cloud.  They  set  out,  but  Polignac  got 
there  before  them.  According  to  M.  Guizot,  the  Duke  de  Mortemart,  Messrs, 
de  Semonville,  d’Argout,  de  Vitrolles,  and  de  Sussy,  were  “the  enlightened 
Royalists  who  attempted  to  give  legal  satisfaction  to  the  country,  and  to  bring 
about  an  arrangement  between  the  inert  royalty  at  St.  Cloud  and  the  boiling 
revolution  at  Paris.  But  when  they  demanded  an  audience  of  the  king  they 
were  met  by  the  unseasonable  hour,  by  etiquette,  the  countersign,  and  repose.” 
From  Charles  X.,  whose  inconsistency  in  this  trying  hour  of  his  destiny  was 
as  remarkable  as  in  all  his  previous  actions,  they  at  last  extorted  a  promise 
for  the  dismissal  of  the  Polignac  ministry,  the  appointment  of  the  Duke  de 
Montemart  as  president  of  the  council,  and  for  other  appointments  which 
would  be  a  guarantee  for  constitutional  government.  Still  the  king  lingered 
and  delayed  the  proper  signatures  till  late  in  the  day  to  the  necessary  ordi¬ 
nances.  The  Duke  de  Mortemart,  who  set  out  on  his  return  to  Paris  without 
a  proper  passport,  met  with  a  succession  of  interruptions  from  the  royal 
guards.  He  had  equal  difficulty  with  the  people  in  passing  the  barricades. 
The  battle  was  racrinor  all  round  Marmont  at  the  Tuileries.  The  detachment 


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1830] 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


317 


at  the  Palais  Bourbon  was  attacked,  and  the  commander  retired  with  his  troops 
into  the  garden,  and  promised  to  be  neutral.  The  Louvre  was  surrounded  by 
masses  of  the  populace,  of  whom  a  great  number  fell  by  the  fire  of  the  Swiss 
from  the  windows.  At  the  Place  Vendome  two  regiments  of  the  line  were 
stationed,  and  a  remnant  of  the  gendarmerie.  They  were  surrounded  by  the 
people,  who,  manifesting  no  inclination  to  regard  the  soldiers  as  enemies,  the 
whole  body  of  the  troops,  with  their  officers,  went  over  to  the  side  of  the 
insurgents.  On  a  second  attack  the  Swiss  were  driven  from  the  Louvre. 
The  defection  of  the  army,  which  was  beginning  to  spread,  proclaimed  to 
Marmont  that  it  was  impossible  to  continue  this  contest.  The  insurrection 
had  become  a  revolution.  He  hastily  quitted  the  Tuileries  with  his  troops  to 
repair  to  St.  Cloud.  The  populace  as  quickly  broke  into  the  palace.  The 
tri-color  was  hoisted  on  the  staff  where  the  white  flag  of  the  Bourbons  had 
floated  for  fifteen  years.  The  deputies  who  had  met  in  the  morning  had 
determined  to  establish  a  provisional  government.  Lafayette,  who  had 
received  from  them  the  command  of  the  forces  in  Paris,  had,  in  the  uniform  of 
a  National  Guard,  gone  to  take  possession  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Upon  the' 
news  of  the  defection  of  the  two  regiments,  and  the  capture  of  the  Louvre 
and  the  Tuileries,  a  municipal  commission  that  had  been  formed  by  ballot, 
with  authority  to  take  all  measures  that  the  public  safety  might  require, 
installed  themselves  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  surrounded  by  dead  bodies  heaped 
upon  the  Place.  In  a  few  hours  the  National  Guard  was  organized  ;  the 
administration  of  finance  was  provided  for ;  the  post-office  was  again  set  in 
action ;  the  mails  and  the  diligences  left  Paris  bearing  the  tri-color  flag. 
Three  of  the  Royalists  who  had  been  at  St.  Cloud  arrived  at  ten  o’clock  at 
night  with  the  ordinances  already  mentioned,  and  with  a  further  ordinance, 
repealing  those  of  the  25th  of  July,  and  appointing  the  chamber  of  deputies 
to  meet  on  the  3d  of  August.  The  three  Royalists  from  St.  Cloud  came  to 
negotiate  for  the  preservation  of  the  crown  to  Charles  X.  They  were  inter¬ 
rupted  by  cries  of  “  It  is  too  late  !  ”  The  sovereignty  of  France  had  vanished 
from  the  grasp  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons. 

On  the  30th  of  July  the  deputies  who  had  held  their  previous  meetings 
at  private  houses  met  more  formally  in  the  hall  of  the  chamber  of  deputies, 
inviting  their  absent  colleagues  to  join  them  there.  They  came  to  a  resolu¬ 
tion  of  soliciting  the  duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  at  his  country  seat  at  Neuilly, 
to  repair  to  the  capital  to  assume  the  functions  of  lieutenant-general  of  the 
kingdom.  Forty  deputies  signed  this  resolution.  Three  only  declined  being 
parties  to  it,  considering  this  as  a  decisive  step  toward  a  change  of  dynasty. 
On  the  31st  the  deputies  so  assembled  published  a  proclamation  which  thus 
commenced:  “  France  is  free  !  Absolute  power  elevated  its  standard  ;  the 
heroic  population  of  Paris  has  beaten  it  down.  Paris,  under  attack,  has  made 
the  sacred  cause  triumph  by  arms  which  had  succeeded  already  through  the 
constitutional  elections.”  The  proclamation  then  announced  that  the  depu¬ 
ties,  in  anticipation  of  the  regular  concurrence  of  the  chambers,  had  invited  a 
true  Frenchman,  one  who  had  never  fought  but  for  France — the  duke  of 


3*8 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


[1824 


Orleans — to  exercise  the  functions  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom. 
“We  shall  secure  to  ourselves  by  law  all  the  guarantees  we  require  to  render 
liberty  strong  and  permanent.”  On  the  1st  of  August  the  duke  of  Orleans 
was  at  the  Palais  Royal,  had  accepted  the  office,  and  proceeded  on  horseback 
to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  as  a  mark  of  courtesy  to  the  National  Guard,  and  to 
their  commander,  Lafayette.  M.  Guizot  relates  that  the  deputies  accom¬ 
panied  the  duke  on  foot  across  the  barricades.  Women  and  children  sur¬ 
rounded  them,  dancing  and  singing  the  Marseillaise.  Cries  and  questions  of 
every  kind  burst  incessantly  from  the  crowd.  Who  was  that  gentleman  on 
horseback?  was  he  a  prince?  A  hope  was  expressed  that  he  was  not  a  Bour¬ 
bon.  “  I  was  much  more  deeply  impressed,”  says  Guizot,  “by  our  situation 
in  the  midst  of  that  crowd,  and  their  attitude,  than  even  by  the  scene  which 
followed  a  few  moments  after  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  What  future  perils 
already  reveal  themselves  for  that  new-born  monarchy !  ”  Lafayette,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  his  staff,  advanced  to  the  steps  to  meet  the  duke,  who  cordially 
embraced  him.  In  the  great  hall  the  proclamation  of  the  deputies  was  read, 
and  received  with  cheers.  The  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom  advanced 
to  the  window,  holding  Lafayette  by  the  hand  and  waving  the  tri-color  flag. 
Pie  then  appointed  provisional  ministers,  of  whom  M.  Guizot  was  minister  of 
the  interior.  Meanwhile  it  was  known  at  St.  Cloud  that  the  king’s  authority 
was  at  an  end.  The  crowd  of  courtiers  quickly  dropped  off  from  him.  In 
his  restlessness  he  went  to  Trianon  and  then  to  Rambouillet.  He  was  still 
surrounded  by  a  large  body  of  soldiery.  On  the  2d  of  August  he  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  inclosing  a  formal  act  of  abdication  in  favor 
of  his  grandson,  the  duke  of  Bordeaux.  Remaining  at  Rambouillet  with 
numerous  soldiers  around  him,  the  provisional  government  began  to  be  uneasy 
as  to  the  possibility  of  another  conflict.  Three  commissioners  were  sent  to 
confer  with  Charles  and  to  urge  him  to  depart.  Their  recommendations  were 
backed  by  the  presence  of  six  thousand  of  the  National  Guard,  who  marched 
to  Rambouillet,  accompanied  by  vast  numbers  of  Parisians  on  foot  and  in 
vehicles  of  every  description.  The  king  consented  to  leave,  and  to  proceed 
to  Cherbourg,  escorted  by  the  garde-du-corps.  Throughout  his  journey  the 
unfortunate  king  and  his  family  received  no  indignities  from  the  people,  but 
they  saw  on  every  steeple  the  tri-colored  flag,  and  the  tri-colored  cockade  in 
many  a  hat.  They  embarked  for  England  on  the  16th,  and  were  carried  to 
the  coast  of  Devonshire,  the  king  having  decided  that  England  should  be  his 
place  of  refuge.  For  a  short  time  he  resided  at  Lulworth  castle.  He  subse¬ 
quently  occupied  Holyrood  House.  Some  ultra-liberals  in  Edinburgh  having 
shown  an  inclination  to  treat  the  fallen  monarch  with  disrespect  upon  his 
arrival,  Sir  Walter  Scott  published  a  manly  and  touching  appeal  to  the  more 
honorable  feelings  of  his  fellow  citizens.  “  If  there  can  be  any  who  retain 
angry  or  invidious  recollections  of  late  events  in  France,  they  ought  to  remark 
that  the  ex-monarch  has,  by  his  abdication,  renounced  the  conflict  into  which, 
perhaps,  he  was  engaged  by  bad  advisers  ;  that  he  can  no  longer  be  the  object 


Page  319. 


A 

i 


FRANCE.— CHARLES  X. 


1830] 


3i9 


of  resentment  to  the  brave,  but  remains  to  all  the  most  striking  emblem  of 
the  mutability  of  human  affairs  which  our  mutable  times  have  afforded.” 

On  the  3d  of  August  the  duke  of  Orleans  opened  the  legislative  session 
in  the  chamber  of  deputies.  In  that  chamber  during  the  next  four  days 
there  was  a  partial  opposition  from  the  adherents  of  the  fallen  dynasty 
against  the  manifest  tendency  to  a  solution  of  the  difficult  question  of  a  future 
government  by  the  appointment  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  as  king.  The  charter 
of  Louis  XVIII.  received  some  alterations,  and  then  it  was  declared  by  a 
large  majority,  that,  subject  to  the  acceptance  of  the  modified  charter, 
the  universal  and  urgent  interests  of  the  French  nation  called  to  the  throne 
the  duke  of  Orleans.  On  the  9th  of  August  the  duke  of  Orleans  in  the 
chamber  of  deputies  declared  his  acceptance  of  the  crown  with  the  title 
king  of  the  French,  and  took  this  oath  :  “  In  the  presence  of  God,  I  swear  to 
observe  faithfully  the  constitutional  charter,  with  the  modifications  expressed 
in  the  declaration  ;  to  govern  only  by  the  laws  and  according  to  the  laws ;  to 
cause  good  and  true  justice  to  be  rendered  to  each  according  to  his  right ;  and 
to  act  in  all  things  only  with  a  view  to  the  interest,  the  happiness,  and  the 
glory  of  the  French  people.” 

“  While  two  American  packets,  escorted  by  two  French  men-of-war, 
rapidly  conveyed  the  old  king  and  his  family  from  France,  all  France  hastened 
to  Paris.”  An  English  historian  may  add  that  no  inconsiderable  portion  of 
the  population  of  this  kingdom  were,  as  he  himself  witnessed,  looking  with 
intense  interest  upon  the  localities  of  the  great  events  of  the  three  days.  Some 
were  fraternizing  with  National  Guards  in  the  cafe's ;  others  were  mingling  in 
a  crowd  of  all  nations  at  the  evening  receptions  of  General  Lafayette ;  a 
privileged  few  were  banqueting  at  some  shady  guinguette  with  a  great 
company  of  French,  English,  Belgian  and  Polish  liberals,  whose  fervid 
eloquence  seemed  the  prelude  to  a  very  unsettled  future  of  European  society. 
There  was,  however,  so  much  to  admire  in  the  conduct  of  the  French  people, 
that  although  the  traces  of  carnage  were  everywhere  around — although  men 
of  education  joined  their  voices  in  the  common  cry  of  “  death  to  the  ministers,” 
as  an  atonement  for  the  blood  of  the  slain  whose  graves  were  daily  strewn 
with  immortelles , — the  old  idea  of  revolution  had  lost  something  of  its  terrors. 
There  had  been  more  bold  speaking  at  our  elections  for  the  new  parliament 
than  was  considered  in  some  quarters  safe  or  decorous.  Yet  the  sympathy  of 
the  British  population  with  the  revolution  of  France  was  not  to  be  mistaken 
for  an  approbation  of  leveling  and  destructive  doctrines,  such  as  had  led 
astray  many  enthusiasts  among  us  in  1789.  It  was  a  “  contrast  to  the  first 
revolution  ;  ”  it  “  vindicated  the  cause  of  knowledge  and  liberty,  showing  how 
humanizing  to  all  classes  of  society  are  the  spread  of  thought  and  information, 
and  improved  political  institutions.”  The  sympathy  was  too  manifest  to  be 
set  at  naught  by  the  government  of  this  country,  even  if  it  had  been  as  much 
disposed  to  uphold  “  a  royal  rebellion  against  society,”  as  it  was  the  fashion 
unjustly  to  ascribe  to  the  great  warrior  who  was  the  head  of  the  cabinet. 
He.  it  has  been  stated,  was  fora  short  time  perplexed  and  undecided.  “When 


320 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


[1830 


nothing  was  known  beyond  the  ordinances  of  July,  some  one  asked  the  duke 
of  Wellington,  ‘What  are  we  to  think  of  this?’  *  It  is  a  new  dynasty,’ 
answered  the  duke.  ‘  And  what  course  shall  you  take  ?  ’  inquired  his  friend. 
‘  First,  a  long  silence,  and  then  we  will  concert  with  our  allies  what  we  shall 
say.’  ”  A  wiser  and  nobler  policy  than  that  was  adopted.  It  was  a  speedy 


recognition  of  the  new  government. 


XXIY. 


L 


URING  the  six  years  in  which  Louis  Philipp  e  was 
king  of  the  French,  his  reign  was  exempted  from 
solicitudes  of  a  more  painful  nature  than  the 
ordinary  cares  of  monarchs.  In  the  first  two  years 
of  his  rule  events  had  been  in  some  degree 
propitious  to  him.  The  duke  of  Reichstadt,  the 
son  of  Napoleon,  died  in  1832.  His  presence  in 
France  might  at  any  time  have  raised  up  a  host  of  Bonapartists, 
whose  movements  might  have  been  exceedingly  dangerous  to  the 
citizen  king.  The  attempts  of  the  duchess  of  Berri  to  excite  an 
insurrection  in  favor  of  her  son,  the  duke  of  Bordeaux,  had  signally 
failed.  Freedom  of  debate  in  the  chambers,  and  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  appeared  the  best  guarantees  for  the  security  of  the  consti- 
tional  government.  But  the  unrestricted  power  of  speaking  and 
writing  was  not  used  with  moderation.  The  license  of  the  press, 
and  the  occasional  hostility  of  the  chambers,  produced  a  counter-disposition 
on  the  part  of  the  king  to  struggle  against  what  he  believed  to  be  the  evils  of 
the  representative  system.  There  were  constant  changes  of  administration 
since  Lafitte  took  the  reins  of  government  in  November,  1830.  In  1831 
Lafitte  was  succeeded  by  Casimir  Perier,  who  had  a  premiership  of  something 
more  than  a  year  and  a  half.  From  October,  1832,  to  September,  1836,  there 
had  been  nine  changes  of  ministry — Soult,  Guizot ;  Soult,  Broglie ;  Soult, 
Thiers;  Gerard;  Bassano  ;  Mortier  ;  Broglie,  Humann  ;  Broglie,  d’Argout  ; 
Thiers.  In  September,  1836,  the  heads  of  the  cabinet  were  Mole  and  Guizot. 
During  these  changes,  and  the  consequent  excitement  of  parliamentary 
conflicts,  there  had  been  more  than  one  conspiracy  of  which  the  great  object 
was  to  assassinate  the  king.  The  28th  of  July,  1835,  was  the  second  day  of  the 
fetes  to  commemorate  the  revolution  of  1830.  Louis  Philippe  with  his  three 
sons  and  a  splendid  suite  of  military  officers,  was  riding  through  the  line  of 
the  National  Guard,  drawn  up  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple,  when  an  explosion 
resembling  a  discharge  of  musketry  took  place  from  the  window  of  a  house 
overlooking  the  road.  Fourteen  persons,  among  whom  were  Marshal 


The  Corsican  Fieschi’s  unsuccessful  attempt  to  assassinate  Louis  Philippe 

F.  Lix.  Page  321. 


1 848] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


321 


Mortier  and  General  De  Virginy,  were  killed  upon  the  spot.  A  shower  of 
bullets  had  been  discharged  by  a  machine  consisting  of  twenty-five  barrels, 
which,  arranged  horizontally  side  by  side  upon  a  frame,  could  be  fired  at  once 
by  a  train  of  gunpowder.  The  king  was  unhurt.  The  police  rushed  into  the 
house  and  seized  the  assassin,  who  was  wounded  by  the  bursting  of  one  of  the 
barrels.  He  proved  to  be  a  Corsican  named  Fieschi,  who  maintained  that  he 
had  no  object  in  this  wholesale  massacre  but  his  desire  to  destroy  the  king. 
Another  attempt  upon  the  life  of  Louis  Philippe  was  made  in  1836,  by  a  man 
of  the  name  of  Alibaud,  who  fired  into  the  king’s  carriage,  the  queen  and  his 
sister  being  with  him.  A  third  attempt  was  made  in  the  same  year  by  another 
desperado,  named  Meunier.  In  the  history  of  such  fearful  manifestations  of 
wickedness  or  madness,  there  is  nothing  more  remarkable  than  the  extra¬ 
ordinary  escapes  of  Louis  Philippe,  as  if  he  bore  a  charmed  life. 

More  interesting  at  the  present  day  than  these  brutal  attempts  at 
assassination  was  the  failure  of  an  enterprise  which  contemplated,  without  any 
apparent  organization,  the  overthrow  of  a  strong  government  by  a  young  man 
of  twenty-five,  who  relied  only  upon  his  name,  his  abilities,  and  his  daring. 
Charles  Louis  Napoleon,  the  youngest  son  of  Louis  Bonaparte,  king  of 
Holland,  and  of  Hortense  Eugenie,  daughter  of  the  Empress  Josephine  by 
her  first  husband,  had  so  dwelt  upon  his  boyish  remembrances  of  his 
illustrious  uncle,  that  when  in  1832  the  duke  of  Reichstadt  died,  and  he 
became,  according  to  a  decree  of  1804,  heir  to  the  throne,  the  natural  course 
of  his  ambition  was  to  assert  his  claim  against  one  whom  he  regarded  as  a 
usurper.  Louis  Philippe  was  always  apprehensive  of  the  rivalry  of  this  young 
man.  He  had  refused  him  permission  to  return  to  France  in  1830.  He  had 
further  influenced  the  government  of  Rome  to  order  him  to  quit  the  Papal 
territory.  Escaping  from  Italy,  he  resided  with  his  mother  in  the  Chateau 
Arenenberg  in  Switzerland,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  politics 
and  of  military  science,  and  became  known  in  Europe  as  a  writer  of  diligent 
research  and  unquestionable  ability.  Whatever  study  he  pursued  and 
whatever  ideas  he  promulgated  had  evidently  some  bearing  upon  what  he 
implicitly  believed  would  be  his  great  future. 

The  ordinary  relations  of  the  attempt  of  Louis  Napoleon — availing  himself 
of  the  general  unpopularity  of  the  king  of  the  French,  to  risk  the  result  of  a 
popular  commotion  to  overthrow  the  Orleans  dynasty — have  recently  received 
a  new  interest  from  the  official  revelations  of  M.  Guizot.  He  relates  that  on 
the  evening  of  the  31st  of  October  the  minister  of  the  interior  brought  to  him 
a  telegraphic  dispatch  received  from  Strasbourg,  dated  on  the  evening  of  the 
30th,  which  announced  that  about  six  o’clock  that  morning  Louis  Napoleon 
“traversed  the  streets  of  Strasbourg  with  a  party  of  .  .  .  .”  A  mist  which 
enveloped  the  line  of  telegraph  had  left  the  remainder  of  the  dispatch 
uncertain.  Guizot  and  the  minister  of  the  interior  repaired  instantly  to  the 
Tuileries,  where  they  found  the  whole  cabinet  assembled.  All  was  conjecture. 
Instructions  were  drawn  up  founded  upon  many  possible  contingencies.  The 
ministers  remained  with  the  king  nearly  the  whole  night,  expecting  news 
21 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


[1830 


322 

which  came  not.  During  those  hours  of  suspense,  the  queen,  the  king’s  sister, 
the  princes,  entered  again  and  again  to  ask  if  anything  had  transpired.  “  I 
was  struck,”  says  M.  Guizot,  “  by  the  sadness  of  the  king,  not  that  he  seemed 
uneasy  or  subdued,  but  uncertainty  as  to  the  seriousness  of  the  event  occupied 
his  thoughts  ;  and  these  reiterated  conspiracies,  these  attempts  at  civil  war, 
republican,  legitimist,  and  Bonapartist,  this  continual  necessity  of  contending, 
repressing,  and  punishing,  weighed  on  him  as  a  hateful  burden.  Despite  his 
long  experience  and  all  that  it  had  taught  him  of  man’s  passions  and  the 
vicissitudes  of  life,  he  was,  and  continued  to  be,  naturally  easy,  confiding, 
benevolent,  and  hopeful.  He  grew  tired  of  having  incessantly  to  watch,  to 
defend  himself,  and  of  finding  so  many  enemies  on  his  steps. 

The  next  morning,  the  1st  of  November,  an  aide-de-camp  of  the  com¬ 
mandant  at  Strasbourg  brought  to  the  perplexed  king  and  his  ministers  a 
solution  of  the  telegraphic  mystery.  Louis  Napoleon,  having  the  support 
of  a  colonel  who  commanded  a  battalion,  had  presented  himself  at  the 
barrack  of  a  regiment  of  artillery,  and  was  received  with  shouts  of  “  Long 
live  the  emperor.”  At  another  barrack  the  attempts  of  the  prince  upon  the 
fidelity  of  the  troops  was  repulsed  ;  and  he  and  his  followers  were  arrested 
by  the  colonel  and  other  officers  of  the  forty-sixth  regiment  of  infantry. 
The  affair  was  over  in  a  few  hours  without  bloodshed.  One  only  of  the 
known  adherents  of  Louis  Napoleon,  M.  de  Persigny,  his  intimate  friend, 
effected  his  escape.  On  ascertaining  the  result  of  this  rash  enterprise,  queen 
Hortense,  whose  affection  for  her  son  was  most  devoted,  hurried  to  France 
to  intercede  for  him  with  the  government.  From  Viry,  near  Paris,  she 
addressed  her  supplications  to  the  king  and  M.  Mole.  M.  Guizot  says,  “She 
might  have  spared  them.  The  resolution  of  not  bringing  Prince  Louis  to 
trial,  and  of  sending  him  to  the  United  States  of  America,  was  already  taken. 
This  was  the  decided  inclination  of  the  king,  and  the  unanimous  advice  of 
the  cabinet.”  The  adventurer  was  brought  from  the  citadel  of  Strasbourg 
to  Paris,  where  he  stayed  only  a  few  hours.  He  was  then  taken  to  L’Orient, 
where  he  embarked  on  the  14th  of  November  in  a  frigate  which  was  to  touch 
at  New  York.  The  sub-prefect  of  L’Orient  waited  on  the  prince  when  he 
was  on  board,  inquired  whether  he  would  find  any  resources  when  he  arrived 
in  the  United  States,  and  being  told  that  none  were  at  first  to  be  expected, 
the  prefect  placed  in  his  hands  a  casket  containing  fifteen  thousand  francs 
in  gold,  which  the  king  had  ordered  him  thus  to  appropriate.  Louis  Napo¬ 
leon  remained  in  the  United  States  till  October,  1837,  when,  hearing  of  the 
illness  of  his  mother,  he  encountered  the  risks  of  a  return  to  Europe  and 
was  with  Hortense  at  her  death.  The  French  government  demanded  his 
extradition  from  Switzerland.  The  Cantons  refused  to  comply  :  but  Louis 
Philippe  enforced  his  demand  by  the  irresistible  argument  of  an  army,  and 
the  prince  withdrew  to  England.  The  fashionable  circles  of  London  regarded 
him  merely  as  a  man  of  pleasure,  and  he  was  popular  in  country  houses  from 
the  spirit  with  which  he  could  follow  hounds  in  a  fox-chase.  His  attempt  at 


. 


LOUIS  ADOLPHE  THIERS. 

Page  323. 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


1848] 


323 


Strasbourg  had  only  excited  laughter  here.  He  was  not  generally  regarded 
as  possessing  any  force  of  character  that  would  justify  a  lofty  ambition. 

The  exclusion  of  France  from  the  European  alliance  came  very  nearly 
precipitating  France  and  England  into  a  war.  M.  Thiers,  then  president  of 
the  council,  showed  no  desire  to  calm  the  passion  that  had  burst  out  in 
France  in  the  belief  that  the  nation  had  been  insulted.  The  duke  of  Well¬ 
ington,  with  his  usual  strong  sense,  rightly  interpreted  the  disposition  of  the 
people  and  of  the  government  of  this  kingdom.  In  a  private  letter  of  the 
5th  of  October  he  thus  expressed  himself :  “  God  send  that  we  may  preserve 
peace  between  these  two  great  countries,  and  for  the  world  !  I  am  certain 
that  there  is  no  desire  in  this  country  on  the  part  of  any  party,  I  may  almost 
say  of  any  influential  individual,  to  quarrel  with,  much  less  to  do  anything 
offensive  toward  France.  But,  if  we  should  be  under  the  necessity  of  going 
to  war,  you  will  witness  the  most  extraordinary  exertions  ever  made  by  this 
or  any  country,  in  order  to  carry  the  same  on  with  vigor,  however  undesirable 
we  may  think  it  to  enter  into  it.”  Upon  the  conduct  of  Lord  Palmerston, 
then  secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs,  there  was  some  diversity  of 
opinion  at  home.  Even  members  of  the  cabinet  were  not  wholly  in  accord 
with  his  policy,  and  many  of  the  public  held  that  he  was  rash  and  obstinate. 
His  policy  was  signally  triumphant.  Although  the  cry  of  the  Parisians  for  a 
few  months  was,  “  Guerre  aux  Anglais,”  the  French  government  found  that 
their  country  was  not  in  a  condition  to  go  to  war,  and  that  the  popular  cry 
for  hostilities  had  some  association  with  revolutionary  tendencies.  After  the 
lapse  of*  twenty-one  years,  M.  Guizot  had  published  his  Memoirs  of  that 
stirring  time,  when  ho  was  ambassador  in  England.  His  intelligent  and 
candid  revelations  may  present  to  those  who  are  curious  to  trace  the  move¬ 
ments  and  counter-movements  of  two  such  adroit  players  in  the  great  game 
of  politics  as  M.  Thiers  and  Lord  Palmerston,  a  juster  view  of  the  causes  of 
this  temporary  interruption  of  the  friendly  feelings  between  the  two  govern¬ 
ments  and  of  the  policy  of  the  British  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  than  they 
could  otherwise  derive  from  the  contemporary  expressions  of  opinion  eithei 
in  England  or  in  France. 

The  resolutions  of  the  four  powers  upon  which  the  treaty  of  the  1 5th 
of  July  was  founded  had  become  known  in  London  on  the  23d.  At  the  anni¬ 
versary  of  the  28th  of  July,  when  sixty  thousand  men  were  under  arms  in 
Paris,  the  popular  desire  for  war  was  shown  in  the  most  marked  manner. 
M.  Guizot  was  perplexed  by  the  contrast  of  the  uneasiness  of  Lord  Melbourne 
and  Lord  John  Russell  with  the  decided  language  of  Lord  Palmerston.  In 
answer  to  the  ambassador’s  dispatches,  M.  Thiers  had  only  one  word  to 

reply _ “  tenez  ferine ,”  but  the  warlike  minister  invited  him  to  a  meeting  with 

the  king  and  himself  at  the  Chateau  d  Eu  on  the  7th  of  August.  Guizot 
left  London  for  this  interview  on  the  6th.  While  he  was  crossing  the 
channel  to  Calais  another  person  was  crossing  the  channel  to  Boulogne,  to  be 
the  hero  of  what  was  then  described  as  u  a  wild  attempt  to  excite  civil  v  af 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


324 


[1830 


made  by  a  maniac  of  the  Bonaparte  family.”  The  maniac  of  1840  became 
the  emperor  of  1852. 

On  the  7th  of  July  the  French  frigate  La  Belle  Poule ,  commanded  by  the 
Prince  de  Joinville,  had  sailed  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  at  St  Helena,  and 
transporting  to  France,  the  remains  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon.  To  this 
somewhat  strange  request  of  the  government  of  Louis  Philippe  made  by  M. 
Guizot,  the  English  cabinet  accorded  its  consent,  Lord  Palmerston  giving 
a  courteous  reply  to  the  demand,  while  he  was  unable  to  conceal  a  passing 
smile.  At  this  time  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  was  residing  at  Carlton  Gardens, 
in  London,  and  M.  Guizot  had  been  required  to  keep  an  eye  on  his  move¬ 
ments.  The  ambassador  described  the  refugee  as  being  constantly  in  the 
park ;  as  frequently  also  at  the  opera,  where  aides-de-camp  stood  behind  him 
in  his  box.  In  public  they  were  bragging  and  ostentatious.  Their  private 
life  was  idle  and  obscure.  In  spite  of  their  tall  talk  M.  Guizot  thought  there 
was  little  of  reality  in  their  boastful  projects.  The  French  foreign  office, 
however,  believed  that  some  attempt  would  be  made  by  this  party  of 
Bonapartists,  although  their  action  would  be  confined  to  a  very  narrow  circle. 

On  the  4th  of  August  a  steam  packet,  the  City  of  Edinburgh,  which  had 
been  hired  as  for  a  party  of  pleasure,  left  the  port  of  London,  bearing  Prince 
Louis  Napoleon,  Count  Montholon,  and  about  forty  officers  and  attendants. 
Arms  and  ammunition,  military  uniforms,  horses  and  carriages  and  a  large 
quantity  of  specie,  had  been  previously  taken  on  board;  with  a  tame  eagle 
that  the  prince  had  taught  to  feed  out  of  his  hand.  The  steam-packet 
dropped  down  the  river,  took  a  French  pilot  on  board  at  Gravesend,  and 
made  for  the  French  coast,  where  it  arrived  on  the  evening  of  the  5th. 
Between  two  and  three  miles  to  the  north  of  Boulogne  is  the  miserable 
village  of  Wimereux,  around  which,  in  1803,  a  camp  was  formed  of  a  portion 
of  the  Grand  Army  for  the  invasion  of  England.  The  country  here  is  barren, 
and  a  few  hovels  lie  between  the  sand  hills  on  the  shore.  Here,  at  the 
mouth  of  a  petty  stream,  Napoleon  caused  a  port  to  be  formed,  which  at 
the  end  of  six  months  was  capable  of  containing  a  hundred  and  seventy 
vessels.  It  is  now  choked  up  and  altogether  decayed.  Here,  then,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  associations  with  the  memory  of  the  great  emperor — in  the 
harbor  which  his  army  had  dug  out  of  the  sands,  and  in  view  of  the  column 
which  they  had  raised  to  his  glory — the  nephew  landed  with  his  followers  at 
four  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  6th.  Those  of  military  rank  had 
exchanged  their  ordinary  dress  for  the  uniform  then  worn  by  French  officers. 
1  he  invading  band,  who  had  been  joined  from  Boulogne  by  a  young  lieu¬ 
tenant  of  the  43d,  named  Aladenise,  and  three  soldiers,  marched  toward  the 
town,  bearing  a  tri-colored  flag  surmounted  by  an  eagle.  There  were  few 
persons  about  at  that  hour  except  two  or  three  officers  of  the  customs,  who 
were  compelled  to  march  with  them.  Upon  arriving  at  the  guard-house  in 
the  Place  d’Anton,  an  attempt  to  seduce  the  soldiers  failed,  and  the  party 
marched  to  the  Quai  de  la  Caserne.  The  barrack  there,  now  given  up  to 
peaceful  purposes  as  a  vast  storehouse,  was  occupied  by  the  42d  regiment. 


1848] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


325 


The  officers  slept  out  of  the  barrack,  and  had  not  arrived  at  five  o’clock, 
when  Lieutenant  Aladenise  called  up  the  soldiers,  ordering  them  to  take  their 
arms,  and  march  with  the  nephew  of  the  emperor  to  Paris ;  Louis  Philippe, 
he  told  them,  had  ceased  to  reign.  The  proposed  march  was,  however, 
interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  Captain  Puygelier  and  two  other  officers.  To 
the  splendid  offers  that  were  made  to  the  captain  and  his  companions  they 
turned  a  deaf  ear.  The  captain  was  as  unmoved  by  the  threats  of  some  of 
his  men  as  by  the  promises  of  the  adventurers.  To  the  shouts  of  Vive  le 
Prince  Louis  he  replied  Vive  le  Roi.  A  scuffle  ensued,  when  a  shot  was  fired 
from  a  pistol  which  Louis  Napoleon  had  in  his  hand,  by  which  a  grenadier  was 
wounded.  The  prince  was  not  absolutely  charged  with  a  murderous  inten¬ 
tion  in  thus  discharging  his  pistol,  but  it  was  implied  that  this  part  of  the 
affair  was  an  accident,  or  at  least  unpremeditated.  Immediately  after  this 
the  barrack-yard  was  cleared  of  the  intruders,  and  they  marched  to  the 
Haute  Ville,  distributing  proclamations  and  throwing  about  money.  They 
fancied  they  could  seize  arms  in  the  old  chateau  for  the  purpose  of  arming 
the  population,  but  their  course  was  stopped  by  the  sub-prefect  of  Boulogne, 
who  in  the  name  of  the  king  commanded  them  to  disperse.  He  was 
answered  by  a  blow  on  the  head  with  the  eagle  which  one  of  the  officers 
carried.  They  tried  to  force  the  door  of  the  chateau.  During- this  time  the 
rappel  had  called  out  the  National  Guard,  who  marched  out  toward 
Wimereux,  to  do  battle  with  a  large  force  which  they  were  told  had  landed 
there.  It  was  now  six  o’clock.  Failing  in  the  attempt  to  force  the  chateau, 
unsupported  by  any  portion  of  the  population,  there  was  nothing  left  to  the 
adventurers  but  flight  to  the  place  of  their  debarkation.  With  a  mad  move¬ 
ment  of  defiance  they  marched  on  the  Calais  road,  and  then  stopped  at  the 
Napoleon  column,  instead  of  proceeding  over  the  hill  to  Wimereux.  The 
first  stone  of  the  column  had  been  laid  by  Marshal  Soult  in  1804.  Left 
unfinished  under  the  empire,  it  had  been  proceeded  with  under  Louis 
XVIII.,  “as  a  monument  of  peace.”  Louis  Philippe,  whose  doubtful  policy 
was  to  revive  the  national  appetite  for  glory  which  belonged  to  the  memory 
of  Napoleon,  was  in  1840  finishing  this  column.  But  the  statue  of  the  great 
emperor  by  which  it  is  crowned  was  not  placed  there  till  1841.  The  prince 
and  his  party  surrounded  the  monument,  while  the  eagle-bearer  entered  the 
column  to  plant  the  standard  on  its  summit.  He  was  left  to  mount  the  dark 
’  stairs  while  his  leader  and  his  companions  made  a  hasty  retreat  before  the 
large  force  that  was  now  coming  against  them.  The  soldiery,  commanded 
by  Captain  Puygelier,  with  the  National  Guards  and  gendarmerie  under  the 
orders  of  the  sub-prefect  and  the  mayor,  rendered  resistance  vain.  Some 
fled  into  the  fields.  Louis  Napoleon  and  five  or  six  others  got  down  to  the 
sands  to  the  north  of  the  harbor.  The  prince  threw  himself  into  the  sea  and 
swam  to  a  little  boat.  The  National  Guard  fired  upon  the  fugitives,  of  whom 
one  man  was  killed  and  another  dangerously  wounded.  An  inhabitant  of 
Cologne,  who  had  been  one  of  the  National  Guard  in  1840,  expressed  to  us 
the  indignation  which  he  felt  at  beholding  men  who  were  swimming  for  their 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


[1830 


326 

lives  being  fired  upon  when  their  power  of  doing  mischief  was  at  an  end, 
Louis  Napoleon  swam  back  and  surrendered  himself.  He  was  taken  to  the 
dungeon  of  the  chateau,  where  he  remained  two  days  before  being  conveyed 
to  Paris. 

The  trial  of  the  prince  and  of  nineteen  other  conspirators  took  place  on 
the  6th  of  October  before  the  chamber  of  peers.  Louis  Napoleon  main¬ 
tained  a  bold  front  upon  his  trial.  In  the  speech  which  he  addressed  to  his 
judges  he  said,  “  I  represent  before  you  a  principle,  a  cause,  a  defeat  ;  the 
principle,  it  is  the  sovereignty  of  the  people ;  the  cause,  that  of  the  empire  ; 
the  defeat,  Waterloo.  The  principle  you  have  recognized  ;  the  cause  you 
have  served  :  the  defeat  you  desire  to  avenge.”  He  was  sentenced  to  impris¬ 
onment  for  life ;  his  companions  to  various  terms  of  confinement.  The 
prison  of  Louis  Napoleon  was  the  fortress  of  Ham  in  the  department  of 
Aisne.  The  six  years  of  solitude  which  he  there  passed  were  not  unprofit- 
ably  employed  in  study.  In  1846  he  escaped  in  the  dress  of  a  workman,  and 
again  found  a  refuge  in  England.  The  Paris  press  of  1840  teemed  with 
denunciations  against  the  ministers  of  Queen  Victoria,  maintaining  that  they 
had  encouraged  the  prince  in  his  project,  being  angry  with  the  government 
of  Louis  Philippe.  It  was  asserted  that  Lord  Palmerston  had  made  a  visit 
to  Louis  Napoleon,  or  had  been  visited  by  him,  previous  to  his  departure. 
Lord  Palmerston  found  it  necessary  to  assure  upon  his  honor  le  Baron  de 
Bourqueney,  who  represented  the  French  embassy  in  the  absence  of  M. 
Guizot,  that  neither  he  nor  Lord  Melbourne  had  seen  Louis  Napoleon  for 
two  years,  nor  any  one  of  the  adventurers  who  had  accompaied  him. 

The  conferences  at  the  Chateau  d’Eu  were  soon  terminated.  The  king 
of  the  French  went  to  Boulogne  to  express  his  thanks  to  the  inhabitants  for 
their  loyalty  on  the  6th  of  August.  To  a  deputation  of  the  English  he  said 
that  affairs  between  France  and  England  were  taking  a  favorable  turn.  M. 
Guizot  returned  to  England,  and  was  satisfied  by  the  cordiality  of  his  recep¬ 
tion  by  the  authorities  and  populace  of  Ramsgate  that  the  English  people 
bore  no  ill-will  toward  France.  Arrived  in  London,  he  found  an  invitation 
from  the  queen  to  visit  her  at  Windsor,  where  he  met  the  king  and  queen 
of  the  Belgians,  Lord  Melbourne  and  Lord  Palmerston. 

Looking  at  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  the  15th  of  July,  M.  Guizot 
frankly  acknowledges  the  errors  of  the  policy  of  the  French  government. 
“  We  had  attached  to  this  question  an  exaggerated  importance  ;  we  had 
regarded  the  interests  of  France  in  the  Mediterranean  as  more  associated 
than  they  really  were  with  the  fortunes  of  Mehemet  Ali.”  France  had,  he 
says,  believed  that  Mehemet  Ali  would  have  been  able  to  resist  all  the  efforts 
of  the  four  powers  united,  when  it  was  finally  shown  that  an  English 
squadron  would  be  sufficient  to  subdue  him.  These  errors,  he  continues, 
were  public,  national,  everywhere  spread,  and  maintained  in  the  chambers  as 
well  as  in  the  country,  in  the  opposition  as  well  as  in  the  government, 

• 

“  The  hour  of  disappointment  was  come,  and  it  was  the  cabinet  ovef 
which  M.  Thiers  presided  which  had  to  bear  the  burden.”  Louis  Philippe 


1848] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


32  7 


refused  his  assent  to  the  warlike  speech  which.  M.  Thiers  proposed  for  the 
opening  of  the  chambers.  The  ministry  resigned,  and  Soult  and  Guizot 
were  their  successors. 

The  belligerent  spirit  which  had  been  called  forth  in  France  by  these 
differences  between  the  English  and  French  governments  were  not  likely  to 
subside  into  cordial  friendship  under  the  influence  of  a  pageant  which 
recalled  the  glories  and  the  humiliations  of  the  empire.  The  population  of 
Paris  had  the  gratification  of  a  magnificent  spectacle  on  the  15th  of 
December,  when  the  remains  of  Napoleon  were  interred  in  the  church  of  the 
Invalides.  The  procession  has  been  described  as  wearing  more  of  a 
triumphant  than  a  funeral  air.  Long  cavalcades  of  troops  were  succeeded 
by  a  few  mourning  coaches  ;  grenadiers  of  the  Old  Guard  and  Mamelukes 
followed  the  splendid  car  on  whicfi  was  placed  the  body.  Imperial  eagles 
veiled  with  crape  were  carried  by  eighty-six  non-commissioned  officers. 
Even  to  the  sword  and  the  hat  of  the  emperor,  which  were  laid  upon  the 
coffin,  the  whole  solemnity  was  calculated  to  call  up  remembrances  of  the 
past  which  were  not  favorable  to  the  security  of  the  reigning  family.  There 
was  no  tumult  ;  but  there  were  demonstrations  of  popular  feeling  which 
showed  that  the  pacific  policy  of  the  king  and  of  his  new  ministry  was  not 
so  welcome  to  the  populace  as  M.  Thiers  and  war  with  Europe. 

Again  there  was  a  threatened  rupture  between  France  and  England  in 
1844,  growing  out  of  the  action  of  a  missionary  consul  in  the  island  of  Tahiti, 
but  it  was  settled  by  the  kindly  offices  of  M.  Guizot  and  Sir  Robert  Peek 
Louis  Philippe  visited  the  queen  at  Windsor  Castle,  where  he  was  entertained 
for  a  week. 

Louis  negotiated  a  marriage  between  his  third  son,  the  Prince  de  Joim 
ville,  and  the  princess  of  Brazil,  and  by  this  match  he  gained  an  immense 
dowry  with  the  bride.  His  matrimonial  scheme  in  regard  to  a  Spanish 
alliance  is  thus  discussed  by  Justin  McCarthy  in  his  “  History  of  Our  Times.” 

“  In  an  evil  hour  for  themselves  and  their  fame,  Louis  Philippe  and  his 
minister  believed  that  they  could  obtain  a  virtual  ownership  of  Spain  by  an 
ingenious  marriage  scheme.  There  was  at  one  time  a  project,  talked  of 
rather  than  actually  entertained,  of  marrying  the  young  queen  of  Spain  and 
her  sister  to  the  Due  d’Aumale  and  the  Due  de  Montpensier,  both  sons  of 
Louis  Philippe.  But  this  would  have  been  too  daring  a  venture  on  the  part 
of  the  king  of  the  French.  Apart  from  any  objections  to  be  entertained  by 
other  States,  it  was  certain  that  England  could  not  “  view  with  indifference,” 
as  the  diplomatic  phrase  goes,  the  prospect  of  a  son  of  the  French  king 
occupying  the  throne  of  Spain.  It  may  be  said  that  after  all  it  was  of  little 
concern  to  England  who  married  the  queen  of  Spain.  Spain  was  nothing  to 
us.  It  would  not  follow  that  Spain  must  be  the  tool  of  France  because  the 
Spanish  queen  married  a  son  of  the  French  king,  any  more  than  it  was  cer¬ 
tain  in  a  former  day  that  Austria  must  link  herself  with  the  fortunes  of  the 
great  Napoleon  because  he  had  married  an  Austrian  princess.  Probably  it 
would  have  been  well  if  England  had  concerned  herself  in  no  wise  with  the 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


[1830 


domestic  affairs  of  Spain,  and  had  allowed  Louis  Philippe  to  spin  what  igno- 
ble  plots  he  pleased,  if  the  Spanish  people  themselves  had  not  wit  enough  to 
see  through  and  power  enough  to  counteract  them.  At  a  later  period  France 
brought  on  herself  a  terrible  war  and  a  crushing  defeat  because  her  emperor 
chose  to  believe,  or  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  into  believing,  that  the 
security  of  France  would  be  threatened  if  a  Prussian  prince  were  called  to 
the  throne  of  Spain.  The  Prussian  prince  did  not  ascend  that  throne  ;  but 
the  war  between  France  and  Prussia  went  on;  France  was  defeated;  and 
after  a  little  the  Spanish  people  themselves  got  rid  of  the  prince  whom  they 
had  consented  to  accept  in  place  of  the  obnoxious  Prussian.  If  the  French 
emperor  had  not  interfered,  it  is  only  too  probable  that  the  Prussian  prince 
would  have  gone  to  Madrid,  reigned  there  for  a  few  unstable  and  tremulous 
months,  and  then  have  been  quietly  sent  back  to  his  own  country.  But  at 
the  time  of  Louis  Philippe’s  intrigues  about  the  Spanish  marriages,  the  states¬ 
men  of  England  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  take  a  cool  and  philosophic 
view  of  things.  The  idea  of  non-intervention  had  scarcely  come  up  then, 
and  the  English  minister  who  was  chiefly  concerned  in  foreign  affairs  was 
about  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  admit  that  anything  could  go  on  in 
Europe  or  elsewhere  in  which  England  was  not  entitled  to  express  an  opinion, 
and  to  make  her  influence  felt.  The  marriage,  therefore,  of  the  young  queen 
of  Spain  had  been  long  a  subject  of  anxious  consideration  in  the  councils  of 
the  English  government.  Louis  Philippe  knew  very  well  that  he  could  not 
venture  to  marry  one  of  his  sons  to  the  young  Isabella.  But  he  and  his 
minister  devised  a  scheme  for  securing  to  themselves  and  their  policy  the 
same  effect  in  another  way.  They  contrived  that  the  queen  and  her  sister 
should  be  married  at  the  same  time — the  queen  to  her  cousin,  Don  Francisco 
d’Assis,  duke  of  Cadiz  ,  and  her  sister  to  the  Duke  de  Montpensier,  Louis 
Philippe’s  son.  There  was  reason  to  expect  that  the  queen,  if  married  to 
Don  Francisco,  would  have  no  children,  and  that  the  wife  of  Louis  Philippe’s 
son,  or  some  of  her  children,  would  come  to  the  throne  of  Spain. 

“  On  the  moral  guilt  of  a  plot  like  this  it  would  be  superfluous  to  dwell. 
Nothing  in  the  history  of  the  perversions  of  human  conscience  and  judgment 
can  be  more  extraordinary  than  the  fact  that  a  man  like  M.  Guizot  should 
have  been  its  inspiring  influence.  It  came  with  a  double  shock  upon  the 
queen  of  England  and  her  ministers,  because  they  had  every  reason  to  think 
that  Louis  Philippe  had  bound  himself  by  a  solemn  promise  to  discourage 
any  such  policy.  When  the  queen  paid  her  visit  to  Louis  Philippe  at  Eu,  the 
king  made  the  most  distinct  and  spontaneous  promises  to  her  majesty  and 
Lord  Aberdeen. 

“  The  objection  of  England  and  other  powers  was  from  first  to  last  an  objec¬ 
tion  to  any  arrangement  which  might  leave  the  succession  to  one  of  Louis 
Philippe’s  children  or  grandchildren.  P'or  this  reason  the  king  had  given  his 
word  to  Queen  Victoria  that  he  would  not  hear  of  his  son’s  marriagewith  Isa¬ 
bella  sister  until  the  difficulty  about  the  succession  had  been  removed  by  Isa¬ 
bella’s  herself  being  married  and  having  a  child.  Such  an  agreement  was  abso- 


1848] 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


329 

lutely  broken  when  the  king  arranged  for  the  marriage  of  his  son  to  the  sistef 
of  Queen  Isabella  at  the  same  time  as  Isabella’s  own  marriage,  and  when,  there¬ 
fore,  it  was  not  certain  that  the  young  queen  would  have  any  children.  The 
political  question,  the  question  of  succession,  remained  then  open  as  before. 
All  the  objections  that  England  and  other  powers  had  to  the  marriage 
of  the  Due  de  Montpensier  stood  out  as  strong  as  ever.  It  was  the 
question  of  the  birth  of  a  child,  and  no  child  was  born.  The  breach  of  faith 
was  made  infinitely  more  grave  by  the  fact  that  in  the  public  opinion  of 
Europe,  Louis  Philippe  was  set  down  as  having  brought  about  the  marriage 
of  the  queen  of  Spain  with  her  cousin  Don  Francisco  in  the  hope  and  belief 
that  the  union  would  be  barren  of  issue,  and  that  the  wife  of  his  son  would 
stand  on  the  next  step  of  the  throne. 

“The  excuse  which  Louis  Philippe  put  forward  to  palliate  what  he  called 
his  “  deviation  ”  from  the  promise  to  the  queen  was  not  of  a  nature  calculated 
to  allay  the  ill-feeling  which  his  policy  had  aroused  in  England.  He  pleaded 
in  substance  that  he  had  reason  to  believe  in  an  intended  piece  of  treachery 
on  the  part  of  the  English  government,  the  consequences  of  which,  if  it  were 
successful,  would  have  been  injurious  to  his  policy,  and  the  discovery  of  which, 
therefore,  released  him  from  his  promise.  He  had  found  out,  as  he  declared, 
that  there  was  an  intention  on  the  part  of  England  to  put  forward,  as  a  candi¬ 
date  for  the  hand  of  Queen  Isabella,  Prince  Leopold  of  Coburg,  a  cousin  of 
Prince  Albert.  There  was  so  little  justification  for  any  such  suspicion  that 
it  seems  hardly  possible  a  man  of  Louis  Philippe’s  shrewdness  can  really  have 
entertained  it.  The  English  government  had  always  steadfastly  declined  to 
give  any  support  whatever  to  the  candidature  of  this  young  prince.  Lord 
Aberdeen,  who  was  then  foreign  secretary,  had  always  taken  his  stand  on  the 
broad  principle  that  the  marriage  of  the  queen  of  Spain  was  the  business  of 
Isabella  herself  and  of  the  Spanish  people,  and  that  so  long  as  that  queen  and 
that  people  were  satisfied,  and  the  interests  of  England  were  in  no  wise  in- 
ovlved,  the  government  of  Queen  Victoria  would  interfere  in  no  manner.  The 
candidature  of  Prince  Leopold  had  been  in  the  first  instance  a  project  of  the 
dowager  queen  of  Spain,  Christina,  a  woman  of  intriguing  character,  on  whose 
political  probity  no  great  reliance  could  be  placed.  The  English  government 
had  in  the  most  decided  and  practical  manner  proved  that  they  took  no  share 
in  the  plans  of  Queen  Christina,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  them.  But  while 
the  whole  negotiations  were  going  on  the  defeat  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  s  ministry 
brought  Lord  Palmerston  into  the  foreign  office  in  place  of  Lord  Aberdeen. 
The  very  name  of  Palmerston  produced  on  Louis  Philippe  and  his  minister 
the  effect  vulgarly  said  to  be  wrought  on  a  bull  by  the  display  of  a  red  rag. 
Louis  Philippe  treasured  in  bitter  memory  the  unexpected  success  which 
Palmerston  had  won  from  him  in  regard  to  Turkey  and  Egypt.  At  that  time, 
and  especially  in  the  court  of  Louis  Philippe,  foreign  politics  were  looked 
upon  as  the  field  in  which  the  ministers  of  great  powers  contended  against 
each  other  with  brag  and  trickery  and  subtle  arts  of  all  kinds  ;  the  plain  prin¬ 
ciples  of  integrity  and  truthful  dealing  did  not  seem  to  be  regarded  as  prop- 


330 


FRANCE.— LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 


[1830 


erly  belonging  to  the  rules  of  the  game.  Louis  Philippe  probably  believed 
in  good  faith  that  the  return  of  Lord  Palmerston  to  the  foreign  office  must 
mean  the  renewed  activity  of  treacherous  plans  against  himself.  This  at  least 
is  the  only  assumption  on  which  we  can  explain  the  king’s  conduct,  if  we  do 
not  wish  to  believe  that  he  put  forward  excuses  and  pretexts  which  were 
willful  in  their  falsehood.  Louis  Philippe  seized  on  some  words  in  a  dispatch 
of  Lord  Palmerston’s,  in  which  the  candidature  of  Prince  Leopold  was  simply 
mentioned  as  a  matter  of  fact ;  declared  that  these  words  showed  that  the 
English  government  had  at  last  openly  adopted  that  candidature,  professed 
himself  relieved  from  all  previous  engagements,  and  at  once  hurried  on  the 
marriage  between  Queen  Isabella  and  her  cousin,  and  that  of  his  own  son  with 
Isabella’s  sister.  On  October  10th,  1846,  the  double  marriage  took  place  at 
Madrid  ;  and  on  February  5th  following,  M.  Guizot  told  the  French  chambers 
that  the  Spanish  marriages  constituted  the  first  great  thing  France  had 
accomplished  completely  single-handed  in  Europe  since  1830. 

Every  one  knows  what  a  .failure  this  scheme  proved,  so  far  as  the  objects 
of  Louis  Philippe  and  his  minister  were  concerned.  Queen  Isabella  had 
children.  Montpensier’s  wife  did  not  come  to  the  throne  ;  and  the  dynasty 
of  Louis  Philippe  fell  before  long,  its  fall  undoubtedly  hastened  by  the  posi¬ 
tion  of  utter  isolation  and  distrust  in  which  it  was  placed  by  the  scheme  of 
the  Spanish  marriages  and  the  feelings  which  it  provoked  in  Europe.  The 
fact  with  which  we  have  to  deal,  however,  is  that  the  friendship  between 
England  and  France,  from  which  so  many  happy  results  seemed  likely  to 
come  to  Europe  and  the  cause  of  free  government,  was  necessarily  interrupted. 
It  would  have  been  impossible  to  trust  any  longer  to  Louis  Philippe.” 


HE  overthrow  of  1848  was  approaching.  It  is  not 
compatible  with  the  limits  of  our  work  to  enter  into  any 
minute  detail  of  the  revolution  of  February.  The  leg¬ 
islative  session  had  opened  on  the  28th  of  December, 
1847.  The  king’s  speech  contained  an  allusion  to  the 
agitation  for  “  electoral  and  parliamentary  reform,” — 
which  words  had  become  a  toast  at  several  provincial 
banquets.  Petitions  for  reform  had  been  presented  to  the 
chamber  of  deputies.  On  the  opening  of  the  session  there 
had  been  discussions  in  the  chamber  on  the  legality  of  peaceful 
and  unarmed  political  meetings.  On  the  22d  of  February  there 
was  to  have  been  a  reform  banquet  in  the  twelfth  arrondissement 
WJ  °f  Paris — a  quarter  where  the  materials  for  disorder  were  abun- 
|p  dant.  The  minister  of  the  interior  forbade  the  meeting,  as  the 
^  committee  for  the  banquet  had  proposed  a  procession  of 
National  Guards  in  uniform,  and  of  students.  The  uniform  of 
the  National  Guards  had  almost  disappeared  from  public  view. 
They  were  no  longer  favored  and  flattered  by  the  government.  The  principal 
leaders  of  the  parliamentary  opposition  now  announced  that  the  banquet 
was  adjourned,  in  consequence  of  the  declaration  of  the  minister  of  the 
interior.  The  postponement  was  loudly  murmured  at  by  the  democratic 
journalists.  On  the  morning  of  the  22d  the  streets  were  crowded  at  an  early 
hour:  About  noon  a  crowd  surrounded  the  chamber  of  deputies  ;  and  a  cry 
was  raised  of  “  Down  with  Guizot ;  ”  but  in  the  evening  the  city  was  quiet. 
Not  so  during  the  night.  The  government  was  collecting  troops,  and  the 
people  were  raising  barricades.  The  rappel  was  again  heard  calling  out  the 
National  Guard  at  seven  in  the  morning  of  the  23d.  Some  firing  soon  took 
place  between  the  populace  and  the  Municipal  Guards.  But  the  National 
Guards  had  come  to  an  agreement  among  themselves  to  act  the  part  of 
conciliators  rather  than  that  of  the  opposers  of  the  people ;  and  their 
presence  in  consequence  prevented  any  attempt  of  the  regular  troops  to 
disperse  the  multitudes  assembled  in  various  quarters.  Soon  the  cry  of 
Vive  la  Reforme  was  heard  among  groups  of  the  citizen  soldiers.  The  royal 
occupants  of  the  Tuiler-ies  began  to  be  seriously  alarmed.  A  council  was 
hastily  summoned,  when  M.  Guizot,  finding  that  the  cabinet  could  not  rely 
upon  the  firmness  of  the  king,  expressed  his  determination  to  retire.  He 


332 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


[1848 


himself  announced  his  resignation  to  the  chamber  of  deputies.  There  was 
joy  that  night  in  Paris,  for  it  was  thought  that  the  cause  of  reform  had 
gained  a  victory.  Houses  were  illuminated  as  if  the  crisis  were  passed.  But 
a  band  of  republicans  bearing  a  red  flag  had  come  forth,  and  gathering 
together  before  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Affairs  occupied  by  M.  Guizot,  where  a 
battalion  of  infantry  was  stationed,  a  shot  fired  from  the  mob  was  answered 
by  a  volley  from  the  soldiery,  and  fifty  fell,  killed  or  wounded.  A  procession 
was  immediately  formed.  The  bodies  of  the  dead  were  carried  by  torchlight 
through  the  streets,  amid  the  frantic  cries  of  excited  crowds  demanding 
vengeance.  The  opportunity  of  restoring  tranquillity  by  the  exercise  of 
force  had  passed  away.  During  the  night  the  king  had  reluctantly  decided 
for  concession.  He  had  sent  for  M.  Thiers  and  offered  him  the  formation  of 
a  ministry.  As  the  condition  of  his  acceptance  M.  Thiers  stipulated  that 
M.  Odillon  Barrot  should  be  a  member  of  the  cabinet.  This  was  entirely  to 
yield  upon  the  question  of  reform,  and  wholly  to  change  the  policy  of  the 
government.  But  there  was  no  alternative  for  the  perplexed  king.  The 
change  of  administration  was  announced  by  placards  in  the  morning.  The 
command  of  the  troops  had  been  given  to  Marshal  Bugeaud  during  the 
night ;  and  it  is  probable  that  he  would  have  adopted  no  half  measures  to 
support  the  crown.  His  command  was  superseded  by  the  new  ministers,  who 
judged  that  the  danger  of  insurrection  Was  passed.  They  were  deceived. 
About  noon  the  populace  attacked  the  Palais  Royal,  and  sacked  the  apart¬ 
ments.  TheTuileries  was  next  to  be  assailed.  The  king  left  the  palace  with 
his  queen.  The  mob  broke  in.  The  throne  was  carried  along  the  Boulevards, 
and  was  burnt  at  the  foot  of  the  column  of  July. 

The  chamber  of  deputies  met  at  half-past  twelve,  when  M.  Dupin 
announced  the  abdication  of  Louis  Philippe.  M.  Dupin  also  announced  that 
the  king  had  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  grandson,  the  Comte  de  Paris, 
appointing  the  duchess  of  Orleans  regent.  The  duchess,  leading  her  two 
sons  by  the  hand,  entered  the  chamber,  accompanied  by  the  Duke  de 
Nemours.  She  said,  “  I  have  come  here  with  all  I  have  dear  in  the  world.” 
Some  repugnance  was  manifested  at  the  presence  of  royal  strangers,  but  the 
duchess  appearing  unwilling  to  retire,  a  stormy  discussion  began.  By  a  law 
of  1842  it  was  declared  that  during  the  minority  of  the  Comte  de  Paris,  in 
the  event  of  the  demise  of  the  king,  the  Duke  de  Nemours  should  be  regent. 
The  debate  turned  upon  this  difficulty.  It  was  soon  interrupted  by  the  rush 
of  a  crowd  that  filled  all  the  passages  of  the  chambers  and  swarmed  into  the 
hall.  The  mother  and  her  children  were  surrounded  by  armed  men  ;  but 
still  she  resolved  to  remain.  She  heard  the  demand  for  a  provisional  govern¬ 
ment  ;  she  heard  the  assertion  that  a  regency  could  not  be  created.  Amid 
clamors  and  threats  she  was  forced  by  her  attendants  out  of  the  hall.  The 
deputies  were  scarcely  free  agents,  as,  with  the  applauses  or  the  hisses  of  the 
fierce  republicans  who  were  now  in  command  of  the  situation,  the  members 
of  a  provisional  government  were  nominated.  Seven  deputies  were  finally 
appointed  to  this  responsibility.  In  the  mean  time  another  provisional 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


1852] 


n  o  'j 


government  had  been  formed  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  members  chosen 
by  the  chamber  were  Lamartine,  Marie,  Ledru-Rollin,  Cremieux,  Dupont  de 
l’Eure,  Arago,  and  Gamier  Pages.  The  provisional  government  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  consisted  of  Marrast,  Flocon,  Louis  Blanc  and  Albert.  The 
seven  proceeded  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  there,  after  violent  altercation, 
came  to  a  compromise  with  the  four.  Liberty  and  Equality  shook  hands. 
There  was  to  be  a  republic  ;  but  a  republic  in  which  the  principles  of 
socialism  should  be  the  paramount  element.  At  the  top  of  the  stairs  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  Lamartine  proclaimed  the  republic  to  the  populace  below. 
The  provisional  government  of  eleven  declared  that  the  chamber  of  deputies 
was  dissolved  ;  that  a  national  assembly  should  be  convoked,  the  members 
of  the  “ex-chamber  of  peers”  being  forbidden  to  assemble.  On  the  25th 
“  a  proclamation,”  signed  by  Gamier  Pages  and  Louis  Blanc,  declared  that 
the  provisional  government  undertook  to  secure  the  existence  of  the  work¬ 
man  by  labor ;  to  guarantee  labor  to  all  citizens.  On  the  26th  the  members 
presented  themselves  to  the  people  assembled  before  the  Hotel  de  Ville ; 
and  there  Lamartine  proclaimed  the  abolition  of  royalty  and  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  the  republic,  with  the  exercise  of  their  political  right  by  the  people. 
The  prospect  of  universal  suffrage  was  made  still  more  agreeable  by  the 
announcement  of  the  opening  of  national  workshops  for  the  unemployed 
workmen. 

The  peace  of  Europe  then  occupied  the  attention  of  the  provisional 
government,  and  measures  were  taken  to  provide  a  more  permanent  govern¬ 
ment.  A  national  assembly  was  elected  on  the  27th  of  April,  and  on  the  4th 
of  May  it  met  at  Paris.  The  provisional  government  now  ended  its  existence, 
and  instead  there  was  an  executive  commission  chosen  by  the  assembly  as  the 
visible  governing  power.  On  this  commission  Lamartine  was  placed.  But  his 
popularity  was  already  on  the  wane.  The  13th  of  June  Louis  Napoleon  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  assembly  from  three  departments  of  the  Seine.  The 
insurrections  of  the  red  republicans  broke  out  on  the  22d  of  June.  The 
immediate  cause  of  this  was  the  disbanding  of  the  national  workshops.  The 
large  number  of  idle  operatives  were  too  much  for  the  government  to  bear. 
The  workmen  saw  their  political  and  social  hopes  vanishing,  and  they  were  in 
open  revolt  to  overthrow  the  new  government.  But  the  assembly  was  now 
prepared  for  battle.  The  army  was  brought  up  and  placed  in  command  of 
General  Cavaignac,  an  officer  of  great  boldness  and  experience,  and  moreover 
a  very  ardent  but  practical  republican.  The  insurgents  fortified  themselves 
in  the  quarter  where  they  resided,  and  for  awhile  resisted  with  success  all 
efforts  to  dislodge  them. 

The  streets  of  Paris  ran  with  blood  for  three  days,  and  fully  one  half  of  this 
time  the  issue  was  uncertain.  But  in  the  end  the  army  of  the  assembly  was 
victorious,  and  its  authority  maintained  at  the  loss  of  from  three  thousand  to 
five  thousand  lives. 

The  popularity  of  Lamartine  before  on  the  wane  was  now  entirely  obscured, 
and  his  statesmanship  despised.  The  opposition  to  him  was  so  decided  that 


334 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


[1848 


he  and  his  associates  resigned,  and  General  Cavaignac  was  virtually  dictator. 
Relieved  from  the  fear  of  an  insurrection,  the  assembly  changed  the 
constitution  again.  Under  this  there  was  a  single  representative  body  and 
a  president  for  four  years.  This  went  into  force  in  December,  1848,  and 
Louis  Napoleon  was  elected  president,  taking  the  oath  of  office  on  the  20th  of 
that  month.  The  new  president  proved  himself  strongly  conservative,  and 
went  so  far  as  to  send  an  army  to  aid  the  pope  against  the  republicans  of 
Italy.  This  revolution  against  the  pope  was  put  down  in  1849,  and  Rome 
was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  French  troops.  There  were  frequent  quarrels 
between  the  president  of  France  and  the  legislature,  the  latter  being 
convinced  that  Louis  Napoleon  had  his  eye  not  so  much  on  the  good  of  the 
republic  as  on  his  own.  The  deposed  king,  Louis  Philippe,  died  in  England 
on  the  26th  of  August,  1850. 

In  the  mean  while,  Louis  Napoleon  was  gradually  drawing  the  lines  of 
absolute  power  about  the  press  and  all  the  liberty  of  the  people.  In  the 
midst  of  the  anarchy  he  held  steadfast  to  his  purpose,  and  at  last  put  an  end 
to  it  by  the  famous  or  infamous — from  whichever  standpoint  you  regard  it — 
coup  d'etat  on  December  2d,  1851.  The  principal  actors  in  this  drama  were 
Louis  Napoleon,  M.  de  Morny,  M.  de  Maupas  and  General  St.  Arnaud.  The 
circumstances  attending  it  were  necessarily  atrocious  and  violent.  Prepara¬ 
tions  were  made  for  destroying  all  authority  but  his  own.  The  ministers 
were  compelled  to  resign,  and  he  made  an  appeal  to  the  people  stating  his 
desire  to  be  elected  to  the  presidency  for  ten  years.  Very  many  arrests  were 
made,  and  troops  were  placed  in  readiness.  On  the  4th  of  December  blood¬ 
shed  was  commenced.  The  boulevards  were  swept  by  troops,  artillery  was 
placed  in  position,  and  wherever  a  group  of  people  was  seen  they  were  fired 
upon,  and  the  soldiers  having  been  ordered  to  show  no  quarter,  so  in  two 
or  three  days  all  was  quiet,  and  the  election  came  on.  Napoleon  was  elected 
president  for  ten  years  by  a  vote  of  seven  millions.  In  just  one  year  the 
republic  was  transformed  into  an  empire,  and  Napoleon  assumed  the  title  of 
Napoleon  III.  He  shortly  after  married  the  Mile,  de  Montig,  countess 
of  Teba,  who  bore  him  a  son  March  14th,  1856. 

Mr.  Justin  McCarthy,  in  his  “  History  of  Our  Times,”  thus  describes  the 
state  of  feeling  in  England  at  this  time  : 

“  All  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  had  witnessed  the  steady  progress  of 
the  prince  president  of  France  to  an  imperial  throne.  The  previous  year 
had  closed  upon  his  coup  d' etat.  He  had  arrested,  imprisoned,  banished  or 
shot  his  principal  enemies,  and  had  demanded  from  the  French  people  a 
presidency  for  ten  years,  a  ministry  responsible  to  the  executive  power — 
himself  alone — and  two  political  chambers  to  be  elected  by  universal  suffrage. 
Nearly  five  hundred  prisoners,  untried  before  any  tribunal,  even  that  of  a 
drum-head,  had  been  shipped  off  to  Cayenne.  The  streets  of  Paris  had  been 
soaked  in  blood.  The  president  instituted  a  plebiscite,  or  vote  of  the  whole 
people,  and  of  course  he  got  all  he  asked  for.  There  was  no  arguing  with  the 
commander  of  twenty  legions,  and  of  such  legions  as  those  that  had  operated 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


335 


1S52] 

with  terrible  efficiency  on  the  Boulevards.  The  first  day  of  the  new  year 
saw  the  religious  ceremony  at  Notre  Dame  to  celebrate  the  acceptance  of 
the  ten  years’  presidency  by  Louis  Napoleon.  The  same  day  a  decree  was 
published  in  the  name  of  the  president  declaring  that  the  French  eagle  should 
be  restored  to  the  standards  of  the  army,  as  a  symbol  of  the  regenerated 
military  genius  of  France.  A  few  days  after,  the  prince  president  decreed 
the  confiscation  of  the  property  of  the  Orleans  family  and  restored  titles  of 
nobility  in  France.  The  birthday  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  was  declared  by 
decree  to  be  the  only  national  holiday.  When  the  two  legislative  bodies 
came  to  be  sworn  in,  the  president  made  an  announcement  which  certainly 
did  not  surprise  many  persons,  but  which  nevertheless  sent  a  thrill  abroad 
over  all  parts  of  Europe.  If  hostile  parties  continued  to  plot  against  him, 
the  president  intimated,  and  to  question  the  legitimacy  of  the  power  he  had 
assumed  by  virtue  of  the  national  vote,  then  it  might  be  necessary  to 
demand  from  the  people,  in  the  name  of  the  repose  of  France,  4  a  new  title 
which  will  irrevocably  fix  upon  my  head  the  power  with  which  they  have 
invested  me.’  There  could  be  no  further  doubt.  The  Bonapartist  empire 
was  to  be  restored.  A  new  Napoleon  was  to  come  to  the  throne. 

“  ‘  Only  the  devil  knows  what  he  means,’  indeed.  So  people  were  all 
saying  throughout  England  in  1852.  The  scheme  went  on  to  its  develop¬ 
ment,  and  before  the  year  was  quite  out  Louis  Napoleon  was  proclaimed 
emperor  of  the  French.  Men  had  noticed  as  a  curious,  not  to  say  ominous, 
coincidence  that  on  the  very  day  when  the  duke  of  Wellington  died  the 
Moniteur  announced  that  the  French  people  were  receiving  the  prince 
president  everywhere  as  the  emperor-elect  and  as  the  elect  of  God  ;  and 
another  French  journal  published  an  article  hinting  not  obscurely  at  the 
invasion  and  conquest  of  England  as  the  first  great  duty  of  a  new  Napoleonic 
empire.  The  prince  president  indeed,  in  one  of  the  provincial  speeches 
which  he  delivered  just  before  he  was  proclaimed  emperor,  had  talked 
earnestly  of  peace.  In  his  famous  speech  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Bordeaux  on  October  9th,  he  denied  that  the  restored  empire  would  mean 
war.  1  I  say,’  he  declared,  raising  his  voice  and  speaking  with  energy  and 
emphasis,  i  the  empire  is  peace.’  But  the  assurance  did  not  do  much  to 
satisfy  Europe.  Had  not  the  same  voice,  it  was  asked,  declaimed  with  equal 
energy  and  earnestness  the  terms  of  the  oath  to  the  republican  constitution  ? 
Never,  said  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  new  empire,  believe  the  word  of  a 
Bonaparte,  unless  when  he  promises  to  kill  somebody.  Such  was  indeed  the 
common  sentiment  of  a  large  number  of  the  English  people  during  the 
eventful  year  when  the  president  became  emperor,  and  Prince  Louis  Napoleon 
was  Napoleon  the  third. 

“  It  would  have  been  impossible  that  the  English  people  could  view  all 
this  without  emotion  and  alarm.  But  they  could  not  see  with  indifference 
the  rise  of  a  new  Napoleon  to  power  on  the  strength  of  the  old  Napoleonic 
legend.  The  one  special  characteristic  of  the  Napoleonic  principle  was  its 
hostility  to  England.  The  life  of  the  Great  Napoleon  in  its  greatest  days  had 


336 


FRANCE.— THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


[1848 


been  devoted  to  the  one  purpose  of  humiliating  England.  His  plans  had  been 
foiled  by  England.  Whatever  hands  may  have  joined  in  pressing  him  to  the 
ground,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  he  owed  his  fall  principally  to  England. 
He  died  a  prisoner  of  England,  and  with  his  hatred  of  her  embittered  rather 
than  appeased.  It  did  not  seem  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  successor  who 
had  been  enabled  to  mount  the  imperial  throne  simply  because  he  bore  the 
name  and  represented  the  principles  of  the  first  Napoleon  would  inherit  the 
hatred  to  England  and  the  designs  against  England.  Everything  else  that 
savored  of  the  Napoleonic  era  had  been  revived  ;  why  should  this,  its 
principal  characteristic,  be  allowed  to  lie  in  the  tomb  of  the  first  emperor  ? 
The  policy  of  the  first  Napoleon  had  lighted  up  a  fire  of  hatred  between 
England  and  France  which  at  one  time  seemed  inextinguishable.  There  were 
many  who  regarded  that  international  hate  as  something  like  that  of  the 
hostile  brothers  in  the  classic  story,  the  very  flames  of  whose  funeral  piles 
refused  to  mingle  in  the  air ;  or  like  that  of  the  rival  Scottish  families,  whose 
blood,  it  was  said,  would  never  commingle  though  poured  into  one  dish.  It 
did  not  seem  possible  that  a  new  emperor  Napoleon  could  arise  without 
bringing  a  restoration  of  that  hatred  along  with  him. 

“  When  the  coup  d'etat  came  and  was  successful,  the  amazement  of  the 
English  public  was  unbounded.  Never  had  any  plot  been  more  skillfully  and 
more  carefully  planned,  more  daringly  carried  out.  Here  evidently  was  a 
master  in  the  art  of  conspiracy.  Here  was  the  combination  of  steady 
caution  and  boundless  audacity.  What  a  subtlety  of  design  ;  what  a  perfec¬ 
tion  of  silent  self-control  !  How  slowly  the  plan  had  been  matured ;  how 
suddenly  it  was  flashed  upon  the  world  and  carried  to  success.  No  haste,  no 
delay,  no  scruple,  no  remorse,  no  fear  !  And  all  this  was  the  work  of  the 
dull  dawdler  of  English  drawing-rooms,  the  heavy,  apathetic,  unmoral  rather 
than  immoral  haunter  of  English  race-courses  and  gambling-houses  !  What 
new  surprise  might  not  be  feared,  what  subtle  and  daring  enterprise  might 
not  reasonably  be  expected  from  one  who  could  thus  conceal  and  thus  reveal 
himself,  and  do  both  with  a  like  success ! 

“  Louis  Napoleon,  said  a  member  of  his  family,  deceived  Europe  twice  : 
first  when  he  succeeded  in  passing  off  as  an  idiot,  and  next  when  he 
succeeded  in  passing  off  as  a  statesman.  The  epigram  had  doubtless  a  great 
deal  of  truth  in  it.  The  coup  d'etat  was  probably  neither  planned  nor 
carried  to  success  by  the  cleverness  and  energy  of  Louis  Napoleon.  Cooler 
and  stronger  heads  and  hands  are  responsible  for  the  execution  at  least  of 
that  enterprise.  The  prince,  it  is  likely,  played  little  more  than  a  passive 
part  in  it,  and  might  have  lost  his  nerve  more  than  once  but  for  the  greater 
resolution  of  some  of  his  associates,  who  were  determined  to  crown  him  for 
their  own  sakes  as  well  as  for  his.  But  at  the  time  the  world  at  large  saw 
only  Louis  Napoleon  in  the  whole  scheme,  conception,  execution,  and  all. 
The  idea  was  formed  of  a  colossal  figure  of  cunning  and  daring — a  Brutus,  a 
Talleyrand,  a  Philip  of  Spain,  and  a  Napoleon  the  first  all  in  one.  Those 
who  detested  him  most  admired  and  feared  him  not  the  least.  Who  can 


1852] 


FRANCE.— THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


337 


doubt,  it  was  asked,  that  he  will  endeavor  to  make  himself  the  heir  of  the 
revenges  of  Napoleon?  Who  can  believe  any  pledges  he  may  give.  How 
enter  into  any  treaty  or  bond  of  any  kind  with  such  a  man  ?  Where  is  the 
one  that  can  pretend  to  say  he  sees  through  lpm  and  understands  his 
schemes  ? 

“  There  were  five  projects  with  which  public  opinion  all  over  Europe 
specially  credited  Louis  Napoleon  when  he  began  his  imperial  reign.  One 
was  a  war  with  Russia.  Another  was  a  war  with  Austria.  A  third  was  a 
war  with  Prussia.  A  fourth  was  the  annexation  of  Belgium.  The  fifth  was 
the  invasion  of  England.  Three  of  these  projects  were  carried  out.  The 
fourth  we  know  was  in  contemplation.  Our  combination  with  France  in  the 
first  probably  put  all  serious  thought  of  the  fifth  out  of  the  head  of  the 
French  emperor.  He  got  far  more  prestige  out  of  an  alliance  with  us  than 
he  could  ever  have  got  out  of  any  quarrel  with  us  ;  and  he  had  little  or  no 
risk.  We  do  not  count  for  anything  the  repeated  assurances  of  Louis 
Napoleon  that  he  desired  peace  with  England.  A  change  in  circumstances 
at  any  time  might  have  induced  an  altered  frame  of  mind.  The  very  same 
assurances  were  made  again  and  again  to  Russia,  to  Austria,  and  to  Prussia. 
The  pledge  that  the  empire  was  peace  was  addressed,  like  the  pope’s  edict, 
urbiet  orbi .” 

XXYI 


E 


APOLEON  III.  made  his  government  an  absolutism 
under  which  France  made  rapid  advances  in  material 
strength  and  prosperity.  The  city  of  Paris  was  em¬ 
bellished  and  fortified  as  never  before.  The  emperor 
steadily  maintained  his  policy  and  announced  himself 
as  the  adjuster  of  the  wrongs  of  nations. 

The  Crimean  war  began  in  1853.  The  French  and  Russian 
governments  had  taken  sides  in  the  controversy  between  the 
Greek  and  Latin,  or  Roman  Catholic,  churches,  in  regard  to 
the  occupancy  of  the  sacred  places  around  Jerusalem  and 
vicinity.  The  czar  sent  Prince  Menshikoff  as  envoy  extra¬ 
ordinary  to  Constantinople,  February  22d,  1853.  He  also  made 
certain  demands  respecting  the  protection  of  Christians  in 
Turkey.  In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  questions  the  sultan 
referred  it  to  a  mixed  commission,  but  refused  to  entertain  the 
second.  Two  weeks  later,  after  the  envoy  was  recalled,  the 
sultan  acceded  to  all  the  demands  of  the  czar  and  appealed  to 
ilis  allies.  In  June  the  French  and  English  fleets  appeared  on  the  scene. 
About  the  middle  of  September,  1853,  four  of  this  fleet  passed  the  Darda- 
22 


338 


FRANCE.— THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


[1852 

nelles,  and  on  the  5th  of  October  the  sultan  declared  war  against  Russia 
and  struck  the  first  blow.  Now  the  Russian  czar  declared  war,  and  then 
followed  a  series  of  battles  in  and  around  the  Crimea  which  lasted  for  twenty- 
six  months.  The  chief  of  them  followed  in  this  order  :  Alma,  September 
20th,  1854,  the  English  under  Lord  Raglan  and  the  French  under  Marshal  St. 
Arnaud  routed  the  Russians;  September  25th,  the  allies  took  Balaklava; 
October  17th  they  began  an  unsuccessful  siege  of  Sevastopol.  The 
battle  of  Balaklava,  in  which  was  made  the  famous  charge  of  the  Light 
Brigade,  was  fought  on  October  25th.  On  the  8th  day  of  September,  1855, 
the  French  carried  Malakoff  by  storm,  and  the  Russians,  sinking  their  fleet 
in  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  left  Sevastopol.  There  was  but  little  fighting 
after  this,  and  peace  was  concluded  March  30th,  1856,  and  the  allies  left  the 
Crimea  on  the  9th  of  July.  The  French  lost  about  sixty-three  thousand  five 
hundred  men  ;  the  English,  twenty-six  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  from  killed  and  wounded. 

In  April,  1855,  the  emperor  and  empress  of  France  visited  Queen  Victo¬ 
ria  at  Windsor  castle,  and  were  sumptuously  entertained  by  the  queen  and  her 
royal  consort.  Prince  Albert  returned  the  visit  in  August  of  the  same 
year.  The  Industrial  Exhibition  was  opened  at  Paris,  May  15th,  1855,  and 
far  surpassed  the  World’s  Fair  in  Hyde  Park.  An  attempt  was  made  on  the 
life  of  the  emperor  on  the  28th  of  April  by  Pianori,  and  another  by  Bellemarre 
on  the  8th  of  September,  the  same  year.  The  birth  of  the  prince  imperial, 
March  16th,  1856,  has  been  already  noticed.  There  was  nothing  of  public 
interest  after  the  close  of  the  Crimean  war.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1857  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  Sibour,  was  assassinated  by  a  parish  priest 
named  Verger.  A  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  the  emperor  was  discovered 
July  nth,  1857,  and,  later  in  the  year,  he  and  the  Empress  Eugenie  again 
visited  England.  The  brave  General  Cavaignac,  who  had  steadily  refused  to 
give  his  adherence  to  the  emperor,  was  still  permitted  to  reside  in  France 
without  molestation.  He  died  very  suddenly  at  his  country  seat  near  Tours, 
October  28th,  1857*  Unlike  most  of  his  countrymen  he  was  calm,  sober  and 
moderate  in  debate,  but  of  firm  principle  and  unimpeached  morality.  Louis 
Napoleon  and  the  Russian  emperor,  Alexander  II.,  had  an  interview  at  Stutt¬ 
gart,  September  25th. 

Another  attempt  upon  the  emperor’s  life  was  made  in  Paris,  on  the  14th 
of  January,  1858,  by  a  man  named  Orsini,  who,  with  his  accomplices,  threw 
three  shells  at  the  emperor  and  the  empress.  One  hundred  and  fifty  persons 
were  killed  and  wounded  by  the  explosion,  but  the  emperor  escaped  unharmed. 
The  assassin  Orsini  was  traced  by  the  blood  from  the  wound  inflicted  by  his 
own  bomb.  This  is  fully  discussed  in  the  History  of  England.  In  this  same 
year  the  empire  was  divided  into  five  military  departments.  A  republican 
outbreak  at  Chalons  was  suppressed  with  much  violence.  The  queen  of 
England  and  consort  return  the  visit  of  the  emperor. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1859,  Louis  Napoleon  announced  his  intern 


Napoleon  III.  wins  the  victory  at  Solferino  over  the  Austrians,  July  24th,  1859. 

E.  Meissonier.  Page  339. 


FRANCE.— THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


339 


1870] 

tion  of  aiding  the  Italian  cause,  under  Victor  Emanuel.  In  the  early  part  of 
this  year  Victor  Emanuel  proclaimed  his  intention  of  aiding  to  free  the  popu¬ 
lace  of  Italy  from  the  Austrian  yoke.  Sardinia  and  France  united  in  a  war 
against  Austria,  and  in  April,  1859,  the  war  commenced.  The  victories  of 
Magenta  and  Solferino  were  quickly  followed  by  the  inconclusive  treaty  of 
Villafranca,  July  nth,  by  which  a  confederation  of  all  the  Italian  States  was 
formed  under  the  protectorate  of  the  pope.  All  Italy  indignantly  rejected 
this,  and  early  in  i860  the  various  States  declared  in  favor  of  annexation  to  the 
kingdom  of  Piedmont.  March  18th,  Parma,  Modena  and  the  Emilean  provinces 
were  incorporated  with  Sardinia,  and  the  grand  duchy  of  Tuscany  followed  om 
the  22d.  Victor  Emanuel  was  proclaimed  king  of  Italy,  March  7th.  Nice  and'. 
Savoy  were  ceded  to  P'rance  on  the  24th.  Garibaldi,  with  a  thousand  volun¬ 
teers,  led  a  successful  and  bloodless  revolution  in  the  Sicilies.  He  then  liber¬ 
ated  the  whole  southern  part  of  the  peninsula  and  presented  it  to  Victor 
Emanuel,  who  entered  Naples  November  7th.  The  French  emperor  had 
taken  the  field  himself,  and  arrived  at  Genoa  May  12th.  The  Italians  sus¬ 
pected  the  French  influence  in  the  cabinet,  and  were  present  at  the  subse¬ 
quent  battles.  The  Empress  Eugenie  was  left  as  regent  in  France.  The 
Emperor  Napoleon  and  the  emperor  of  Austria  met  at  Villafranca  July  nth, 
and  Napoleon  returned  to  France  the  17th.  A  treaty  was  signed  between 
Austria,  France  and  Sardinia  on  the  12th  of  November,  1859. 

In  i860  the  principal  public  events  are  hastily  given  as  follows  :  January 
23d,  the  emperor  adopts  a  free  trade  policy  with  England.  The  annexation 
of  Nice  and  Savoy  has  been  mentioned.  The  Emperor  Napoleon  meets 
the  German  sovereign  at  Baden-Baden,  June  1 5-1 7th.  The  emperor  and 
empress  visit  Savoy,  Corsica  and  Algiers  in  the  summer.  The  new  tariff  goes 
into  operation  on  October  1st.  The  collection  of  Peter’s  pence  is  prohibited, 
and  the  issuing  of  pastoral  letters  very  much  restricted.  The  freedom  of  the 
press  is  partially  restored,  and  many  important  ministerial  changes  are  made, 
and  finally  the  emperor  advises  the  pope  to  give  up  his  temporal  possessions. 
In  the  year  1861  France  purchases  the  principality  of  Monaco  for  four  million 
francs.  Then  followed  trouble  with  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  French 
government  issued  a  circular  prohibiting  the  clergy  from  interfering  with 
secular  politics,  April  nth.  A  commercial  treaty  is  made  with  Belgium. 
The  French  government  declares  neutrality  in  the  American  civil  war.  The 
kingdom  of  Italy  is  recognized  June  24th.  The  French  emperor  and  king  of 
Prussia  meet  at  Compiegne  October  6th.  The  finances  of  France  were  in  a 
fearful  condition,  and  Achille  Fould,  who  had  been  removed  in  December 
i860,  was  recalled  to  be  minister  of  finance;  his  great  ability  and  system 
enabling  him  to  extricate  matters.  In  the  latter  part  of  1861  there  was  a 
convention  entered  into  between  France,  Spain  and  England,  in  regard  to  the 
government  of  Mexico.  Using  the  pretext  of  the  disordered  state  of  matters 
in  that  country  they  ventured,  in  defiance  of  the  avowed  policy  of  the 
United  States,  when  that  country  was  in  the  midst  of  a  gigantic  civil  war,  to 
set  up  a  monarchy  on  the  southern  border  of  that  republic.  The  expedition 


340 


FRANCE.— THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


[1852 

was  begun  in  1861,  and  a  fleet  of  French,  Spanish  and  English  ships  of  war 
entered  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  In  December  the  British  minister  left  Mexico, 
and  the  Spanish  landed  at  Vera  Cruz,  and  took  possession  before  the  arrival 
of  the  allied  fleet.  The  three  commanders  of  the  allied  fleet  issued  a 
proclamation  to  the  people,  but  received  no  response;  then  they  began 
to  advance  on  the  capital.  The  provisional  government  asked  for  an 
armistice,  pending  negotiations  for  a  treaty.  The  treaty  was  accepted  by 
Spain  and  England,  but  not  by  France.  The  French  troops  remained  in 
possession  of  the  country.  War  was  declared  against  the  government  of 
Juarez,  but  the  Mexicans  did  not  take  well  to  the  French  occupation.  The 
French  captured  several  important  places  and  entered  the  city  of  Mexico  on 
June  10th,  1862.  A  provisional  government  was  formed,  and  an  “  assembly 
of  notables  ”  was  called  June  24th,  to  form  the  best  kind  of  a  government. 
They  decided  that  a  limited  monarchy  with  a  Catholic  sovereign  was  the  best, 
and  resolved  to  offer  the  crown  to  the  archduke  Ferdinand  Maximilian  of 
Austria.  The  Mexicans  can  not  have  had  much  real  spirit  in  this  if  we  may 
judge  of  it  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events.  Maximilian  accepted  the 
crown  offered  to  him  and  came  to  Mexico  in  May,  1864.  He  entered  his 
capital  June  12th.  The  Imperialist  army  of  France  had  gained  possession  of 
every  State,  and  Juarez  had  fled  to  the  United  States  before  the  summer  was 
gone.  There  were  still  small  bands  of  republicans  left  in  the  country,  which 
kept  up  a  guerilla  warfare.  Maximilian  issued  a  proclamation  on  the  25th  of 
October,  1865,  menacing  all  who  were  found  in  arms  with  death.  In  accord¬ 
ance  with  this  two  generals  were  afterward  shot.  The  French  emperor 
became  weary  of  this  expensive  and  although  successful  yet  unprofitable 
expedition,  and  he  gradually  withdrew  his  troops  and  left  Maximilian  to  his 
fate.  In  February,  1867,  the  last  French  troops  were  removed,  and  at  once 
Juarez  returned  and  resumed  the  government  of  the  republic.  Maximilian, 
at  the  head  of  a  few  troops  of  his  own  remaining  in  the  country,  was  over¬ 
come,  captured  and  shot  by  the  Mexicans.  His  poor  wife,  Charlotte,  became 
insane  from  grief.  And  thus  Napoleon’s  scheme  fell  through. 

To  return  to  the  year  1862.  The  French  conquered  the  province  of 
Bienhoa  in  Anam,  and  six  provinces  in  Cochin  China.  These  have  been 
ceded  to  France  by  treaty.  A  new  commercial  treaty  was  formed  with 
Prussia  August  2d.  There  was  much  suffering  in  the  manufacturing  dis¬ 
tricts  of  Southern  France  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  cotton,  owing  to  the 
civil  war  in  America. 

In  1863  we  notice  these  events  :  Commercial  treaty  with  Italy.  Revolt 
in  Anam  crushed.  1  he  Spanish  frontier  was  established  by  treaty.  The 
emperor  proposes  a  conference  of  the  European  powers  on  the  questions  of 
the  day,  November  9th,  but  England  refuses  to  join,  November  25th.  There 
is  a  growing  opposition  to  the  government  all  the  while,  and  many  liberal 
members  are  elected  to  the  legislature. 

In  1864  we  record  a  treaty  with  Japan;  a  commercial  treaty  with  Switzer¬ 
land  ;  a  convention  with  Italy  in  regard  to  the  evacuation  of  Rome.  The 


Defeat  of  Bazaine  at  the  battle  of  Mars-La-Tour  by  the  Prussians,  August  ltith,  1870. 

E.  Htlnten.  Page  842. 


1870] 


FRANCE.— THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


34i 


Mexican  empire  was  established  with  Maximilian  of  Austria  as  its  head.  In 
the  year  1865  a  treaty  was  made  with  Sweden,  the  emperor  Louis  Napoleon 
made  a  visit  to  Algeria,  and  the  British  fleet  came  upon  a  friendly  visit  to 
Cherbourg  and  Brest.  A  return  visit  was  made  by  the  French  fleet  to  Ports¬ 
mouth,  and  the  Spanish  queen  visited  the  emperor  at  Biarritz.  An  extensive 
feeling  of  alarm  was  produced  in  Europe  in  1866,  by  the  declaration  of  Louis 
Napoleon  that  he  detested  the  treaties  of  1815.  He  then  proposed  a  peace 
conference  with  England  and  Russia,  aiming  at  a  settlement  of  the  difficulties 
between  Austria  and  Italy,  but  Russia  refused  to  join  it.  France  declares  a 
watchful  neutrality  as  to  the  German-Italian  war.  The  Emperor  Napoleon 
demanded  of  Prussia  a  cession  of  a  part  of  the  Rhine  provinces,  and  was 
refused  in  August.  Austria  cedes  Venetia  to  France,  who  transfers  it  to 
Italy.  The  French  occupation  of  Rome  terminated  December  nth. 

The  great  exposition  of  Paris  was  opened  April  1st,  1867,  and  consisted 
of  the  industrial  arts  of  all  nations.  Many  foreign  visitors  were  present,  and 
the  awards  were  distributed  by  the  emperor.  By  a  treaty  adopted  at 
London,  1867,  the  fortress  at  Luxemburg  was  demolished  and  the  Prussian 
troops  were  removed.  Extensive  riots  broke  out  in  Bordeaux  and  Paris 
during  the  months  of  March  and  June,  1868,  but  they  were  quickly 
suppressed.  In  the  year  of  1869  the  elections  resulted  in  returning  a  large 
number  of  radical  members.  Louis  Napoleon  granted  to  his  people  several 
concessions,  but  the  great  national  event  of  the  year  was  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  which  was  celebrated  in 
great  splendor  in  all  parts  of  the  empire  August  15th. 

The  result  of  an  appeal  to  the  French  nation  in  a  plebiscitum,  May  8th 
was  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  the  emperor,  and  the  presence  of  fifty 
thousand  dissenting  votes  in  the  army  was  especially  indicative  of  danger. 
The  emperor  saw  at  once  that  he  must  find  some  great  foreign  question  to 
unite  the  people  or  he  would  hold  his  power  upon  them  by  a  very  slight 
tenure.  The  Franco-Prussian  war  was  therefore  inaugurated,  and  an  easy 
.pretext  was  found.  The  French  had  ill-brooked  the  growing  German  power, 
and  had  not  forgotten  the  former  defeats  at  her  hands.  Napoleon  therefore 
rushed  rashly  into  a  war  for  which  he  was  not  prepared,  to  find  that  his 
antagonist  was  fully  ready  to  cope  with  him  and  choose  his  own  ground. 
The  long  threatened  rupture  came  in  1870.  On  the  4th  of  July  of  that  year 
the  provisional  government  of  Spain  had  elected  Prince  Leopold  of  Hohenzol- 
lern,  a  relation  of  William  of  Prussia,  to  fill  the  vacant  throne.  The  French 
press  claimed  to  see  in  this  that  they  were  threatened  with  a  re-establishment 
of  the  empire  of  Charles  V.  in  favor  of  Prussia.  Leopold  resigned;  but  this 
did  not  satisfy  the  French,  and  the  government  demanded  an  assurance  that 
Prussia  should  at  no  future  time  sanction  his  claims.  King  William  refused 
to  give  this  assurance,  and  France  declared  war.  Contrary  to  general  expec¬ 
tation,  the  southern  German  States  united  with  Prussia  and  the  northern 
States,  and  placed  their  armies  at  the  disposal  of  Prussia. 

At  once  the  two  armies  began  to  gather.  Napoleon  lost  two  weeks  of 


342 


FRANCE.— THE  SECOND  EMPIRE. 


[1870 


August  in  delays  after  the  declaration  of  war.  His  army  was  not  so 
thoroughly  organized  as  he  thought,  and  so  instead  of  marching  on  to  Berlin 
he  never  crossed  the  Rhine.  August  2d  the  French  gained  some  trifling 
success  at  Saarback,  but  a  brilliant  victory  of  the  crown  prince  of  Prussia  at 
Weisenburg  on  the  4th  was  followed  by  another  victory  of  Werth  over  the 
French  two  days  later,  in  which  MacMahon  lost  four  thousand  prisoners 
and  was  driven  toward  Metz.  Another  French  force  was  defeated  on  the 
same  day  at  Specheren  and  lost  twenty-five  hundred  prisoners.  The 
Prussians  occupied  Nancy  on  the  14th,  and  on  the  16th  the  French,  under 
Bazaine,  were  driven  back  on  Mars-la-Tour.  The  king  of  Prussia  commanded 
in  person  at  the  battle  of  Gravelotte  on  the  18th,  and  although  the  German 
army  suffered  very  heavily  it  was  finally  victorious,  and  Bazaine  was  shut  up 
in  Mentz.  In  three  days  the  French  had  lost,  in  killed  alone,  twelve  thousand 
men.  Napoleon  and  Marshal  MacMahon  in  vain  attempted  to  come  to  the 
relief  of  Bazaine.  They  were  surrounded  and  defeated  at  Sedan  with 
heavy  loss.  The  emperor  surrendered  with  his  whole  army  of  about  ninety 
thousand  men,  and  was  sent  a  prisoner  to  Germany  September  2d.  The 
Prussian  army  reached  Paris  on  the  19th,  and  began  a  vigorous  siege.  After  a 
severe  bombardment,  Strasburg  surrendered  on  the  27th.  The  next  day 
Bazaine  surrendered  the  city  of  Metz  with  his  army  of  six  thousand  officers 
and  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  thousand  men,  four  hundred  pieces  of 
artillery,  one  hundred  mitrailleuses,  and  sixty  eagles.  Verdun  capitulated  on 
November  8th,  Thornville  on  the  24th,  and  several  other  places  of  lesser 
importance  followed. 


XXYIJ 


THE  HEW  REPUBLIC. 


HE  provisional  government  of  France  made  great  efforts 
to  raise  armies  and  relieve  Paris,  but  with  the  exception 
of  a  little  success  on  the  Loire  they  met  with  nothing 
but  defeat.  In  the  battles  in  the  forest  of  Orleans  and 
that  of  Le  Muns  January  12th,  the  Prussians  took 
thirty  thousand  prisoners.  Finally  Paris  surrendered  on 
January  29th.  The  French  army  of  the  east,  eighty 
thousand  strong,  was  obliged  to  retire  to  Switzerland  on  the 
31st.  The  peace  was  declared,  but  France  was  compelled  to 
pay  an  indemnity  awarding  $1,000,000,000,  and  cede  the 
province  of  Alsace  and  the  German  part  of  Lorraine  to 
Prussia.  One  great  result  of  the  war  was  the  confederation  of 
jTp  the  German  States  and  the  elevation  of  King  William  to  be 
1^3  emperor  of  Germany. 

In  January,  1871,  the  united  efforts  of  the  “  provisional 
government  of  defense,”  respectively  installed  at  Paris  and 
Tours,  brought  about  an  armistice  after  Paris  had  been  invested 
four  months.  The  French  nation  now  proceeded  to  a  general  election  of 
representatives  to  provide  for  the  exigencies  of  the  case.  The  first  assembly 
met  at  Bordeaux  in  February.  They  secured  the  resignation  of  the  pro¬ 
visional  government  and  began  at  once  to  form  a  republic.  M.  Thiers  was 
nominated  chief  of  the  executive  power  of  the  State  with  the  title  of 
president.  The  responsibility  rested  with  the  assembly.  The  enormous  war 
indemnity  was  finally  liquidated  in  September,  1873,  and  then  the  last 
remnant  of  foreign  troops  was  removed  from  the  soil  of  France. 

In  the  spring  of  1871  the  peace  of  Paris  was  seriously  threatened  by  a  suc¬ 
cessful  outbreak  of  the  communists,  and  a  great  amount  of  bloodshed  and 
grievous  damage  was  done  to  public  and  private  property.  But  this  insurrec¬ 
tion  was  put  down  by  the  regular  army,  which  had  taken  the  side  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment,  and  May  20th  order  was  completely  restored  in  Paris.  France  at 
once  began  to  recuperate,  and  gradually  the  disasters  of  the  war  were  obliter¬ 
ated.  Commerce,  manufactures  and  agriculture  revived,  and  an  era  of  national 
prosperity  set  in.  The  ex-emperor  died  at  Chiselhurst,  England,  in  March, 
1872. 

On  the  24th  day  of  May,  1873,  M.  Thiers  resigned  his  office,  and  Marshal 
MacMahon  was  elected  in  his  stead.  The  new  president  soon  after  had  the 


344 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


[1871 

power  conferred  on  him  for  seven  years.  His  sympathies  were  conservative, 
and  in  1877  he  was  suspected  of  revolutionary  designs.  But  during  his  term 
of  office  the  republican  form  of  government  was  greatly  consolidated,  and 
secured  more  and  more  the  confidence  of  the  nation  and  the  world.  In  1875, 
the  legislative  body  was  reorganized  and  two  chambers  were  appointed.  The 
same  year  a  charter  was  granted  for  the  construction  of  a  tunnel  under  the 
Channel.  The  legislature  of  two  chambers  began  its  session  March  7th,  1876. 
M.  Thiers  died  September  3d,  1877.  There  was  an  extensive  international 
exposition  in  Paris  in  1878  which  was  very  successful.  In  January,  1879,  Mar¬ 
shal  MacMahon  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  republic,  and  was  succeeded 
by  M.  Grevy,  a  thoroughgoing  but  not  extreme  republican  :  he  had  never 
been  a  blind  partisan,  and  consequently  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  nation. 

He  was  born  at  Vandrez  in  the  Jura  August  15th,  1813  ;  he  adopted  the 
profession  of  law  and  became  an  advocate  in  Paris.  He  was  engaged  in  the 
revolution  of  1830  and  in  1848  was  a  member  of  the  constituent  assembly. 
In  1852  he  retired  from  politics  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  but  returned 
to  the  political  arena  in  1868. 

The  prince  imperial,  Eugene  Louis  Jean  Joseph,  son  of  Louis  Napoleon, 
escaped  from  Sedan  at  the  time  of  his  father’s  capture  and  went  to  England. 
When  the  Zulu  war  broke  out  in  1879  he  volunteered  to  go  to  South  Africa, 
and  was  shot  there  while  with  a  reconnoitering  party,  by  a  band  of  Zulus  in 
ambush,  in  July  of  that  year. 

This  melancholy  incident  made  the  war  memorable,  not  only  to  England, 
but  to  Europe.  The  young  French  prince,  Louis  Napoleon,  who  had  studied 
in  English  military  schools,  felt  a  strong  desire  to  vary  the  somewhat 
mournful  monotony  of  his  life  by  taking  part  in  the  campaign.  He  was 
influenced  in  some  measure  by  a  desire  to  fight  under  the  English  flag  ;  but 
it  must  be  owned  that  he  was  influenced  much  more  strongly  by  a  wish  to 
play  to  a  French  popular  audience.  He  persuaded  himself  that  it  would 
greatly  increase  his  chances  of  recovering  the  throne  of  France  if  he  could 
exhibit  himself  to  the  eyes  of  the  French  public  as  a  bold  and  brilliant  young 
soldier.  He  therefore  seized  the  opportunity  of  the  Zulu  campaign  to  offer 
his  services,  and  attach  himself  as  a  volunteer  to  Lord  Chelmsford’s  staff. 
During  one  of  the  episodes  of  the  war  he  and  some  of  his  companions  were 
surprised  by  a  body  of  Zulus.  Others  escaped,  but  Prince  Louis  Napoleon 
was  killed.  The  news  of  his  death  created  a  great  shock  in  England.  Every 
one  was  sorry  for  the  young  gallant  life  so  uselessly  thrown  away.  Still 
more  deep  was  the  regret  felt  for  the  position  of  the  bereaved  mother. 
Hardly  has  any  history  a  tale  more  tragic  than  hers.  So  sudden  and  splendid 
an  elevation,  so  brilliant  a  career,  so  complete  a  fall,  such  an  accumulation  of 
sorrow,  is  hardly  equaled  even  in  the  story  of  Marie  Antoinette.  Now,  in 
the  autumn  of  her  life,  she  was  left  absolutely  alone.  Youth,  beauty, 
imperial  throne,  husband,  son,  all  were  gone.  It  was  natural  that  considera¬ 
tions  such  as  these  should  throw  a  halo  of  melancholy  romance  round  the  fate 


1884] 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


34$ 


of  the  young  prince,  Louis  Napoleon,  and  should  rouse  in  that  country  an 
amount  of  sympathy  which  harsher  critics  condemned  as  sentimental,  and 
even  as  maudlin.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  poor  young  prince  fell  in  a 
quarrel  which  was  not  his,  in  which  he  had  neither  right  nor  duty  to  interfere, 
and  which  he  had  taken  on  himself  with  a  purely  personal  and  political 
motive.  Princes  in  exile  have  many  times  borne  arms  in  quarrels  not  their 
own.  It  is  one  of  the  privileges  and  one  of  the  consolations  of  exile  thus  to 
be  enabled  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  a  foreign  cause.  But  then  the  cause 
must  be  great  and  just  ;  it  must  have  some  noble  principle  to  inspire  it. 
When  the  Orleanist  princes  fought  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  they 
were  contending  for  a  principle  dear  to  the  lovers  of  freedom  in  every  country 
in  the  world,  a  principle  which  it  is  the  part  of  a  Frenchman  as  well  as  an 
American  to  sustain.  But  the  Zulu  war  was  not  in  any  sense  a  war  of 
principle.  It  was  not  even  a  national  English  war.  It  was  not  a 
war  with  which  the  English  people  had  any  sympathy  whatever.  It 
was  not  even  a  war  of  which  the  English  government  approved.  For 
it  is  a  strange  peculiarity  of  this  chapter  of  her  history  that  the  policy 
of  Sir  Bartle  P'rere  and  the  war  in  Zululand  were  condemned  by  no 
one  more  strongly  than  by  the  members  of  her  majesty’s  government  in 
England.  The  dispatches  sent  out  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere  were  constantly 
dispatches  of  remonstrance  and  complaint,  even  of  condemnation.  When 
Prince  Louis  Napoleon,  therefore,  thrust  himself  into  this  quarrel,  he  with¬ 
drew  himself  from  any  just  claim  to  general  sympathy.  Regret  for  the 
sudden  extinction  of  a  young  life  of  promise  was  but  natural,  and  that  regret 
was  freely  given  ;  but  the  verdict  of  the  public  remained  unaltered.  He  had 
thrown  away  his  life  uselessly  in  a  quarrel  which  brought  no  honor,  and  for 
a  motive  which  was  not  unselfish  and  was  not  exalted.  The  death  of  the 
young  prince  imperial  occurred  June  1st.  The  ministry  of  M.  Waddington 
resigned  December  21st,  1879,  and  M.  De  Freycinet  at  once  formed  a  new 
cabinet. 

In  the  early  part  of  1880,  France  lost  by  death  two  of  its  renowned  men. 
The  first  was  Due  de  Gramont.  He  had  been  a  successful  diplomat,  and  in 
1870  he  was  minister  of  foreign  affairs  in  the  cabinet  of  Ollivier,  but  when  M. 
Ollivier  resigned  he  retired  to  private  life.  In  1873  he  was  made  general  of 
division  under  the  republic,  and  in  1877  he  became  a  commander  in  the 
legion  of  honor.  The  second  man  was  Jules  Favre,  a  French  advocate  and 
minister.  He  was  born  at  Lyons  on  March  21st,  1809.  He  was  prominent 
in  the  revolution  of  1848,  but  when  Napoleon  III.  executed  his  coup  d'etat  in 
1852  he  retired  from  public  life.  In  September,  1870,  he  became  minister  of 
war  under  the  provisional  government  and  carried  on  the  negotiations  with 
Bismarck,  but  he  resigned  his  office  in  July,  1871,  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
law.  He  was  remarkable  in  political  repartee,  and  had  long  been  accustomed 
to  public  strife.  At  the  session  of  the  chambers  in  1880  M.  Gambetta  was 
elected  president  of  the  chamber  of  deputies.  The  celebrated  Ferry’s 
education  bill  introduced  into  the  chamber  of  deputies  was  rejected  March 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


[18/1 


9th,  1880,  but  the  decree  to  expel  the  Jesuits  from  France  was  passed  by  an 
overwhelming  majority.  Many  protests  to  this  decree  were  made  from  all 
parts  of  the  republic  and  from  Rome,  but  it  was  rigidly  executed  on  June 
30th  of  the  same  year.  The  religious  orders  were  also  suppressed  by  law. 
A  general  amnesty  bill  for  all  political  offenses  was  passed  the  chambers  July 
3d.  A  new  ministry  was  formed  in  September,  1880,  with  M.  Jules  Ferry  at 
its  head. 

In  the  beginning  of  1881  the  municipal  elections  were  favorable  to  the 
government,  and  a  loan  of  forty  million  pounds  sterling  received  bids  for 
more  than  three  times  that  amount.  There  was  a  long  and  heated  discussion 
in  the  chambers  upon  the  scrutin  de  liste ,  which  began  March  21st,  and 
resulted  in  its  rejection  May  9th.  The  army  of  the  republic  invaded  Tunis 
in  April  of  this  year,  and  on  May  12th  a  treaty  was  signed  with  the  bey, 
which  gave  France  the  virtual  suzerainty  of  that  country.  Much  excitement 
over  this  was  manifested,  especially  in  Italy,  but  the  French  senate  ratified 
the  treaty  on  the  23d  of  May.  A  grand  reception  was  tendered  to  M. 
Gambetta  at  Cahors,  May  25th.  The  autumn  elections  resulted  in  very  large 
gains  to  the  Republican  party.  The  French  troops  occupied  Tunis  on 
October  10th,  and  in  consequence  of  this  and  the  popular  elections  M.  Jules 
Ferry  resigned,  and  a  new  ministry  was  formed  with  M.  Gambetta  as  prime- 
minister.  A  financial  conference  of  all  the  powers  was  held  in  Paris  to  decide 
upon  the  monetary  value  of  the  precious  metals  for  coin,  in  1881. 

France  was  in  the  midst  of  her  struggle  with  Tunis,  with  the  English 
commercial  treaty  unsettled,  and  a  general  election  just  over.  Troops  were 
hurried  into  North  Africa  as  soon  as  the  elections  were  closed.  After  much 
suffering  and  further  horrible  massacres,  the  French  at  length  occupied 
Kairwan,  which  proved  the  turning-point  in  the  campaign,  and  the  whole 
country  was  afterward  gradually  subjected  to  French  arms.  The  result  has 
been  by  no  means  altogether  satisfactory,  and  the  Enfida  case,  involving  a 
question  of  disputed  ownership  between  a  French  and  English  subject,  was 
treated  in  the  most  overbearing  manner,  but  by  the  firmness  and  tact  of 
Lord  Granville  finally  ended'  in  a  purchase  by  the  French  claimant  on  fair 
terms.  In  December,  however,  Europe  may  be  said  to  have  had  its  moral 
revenge.  M.  Rochefort  having  published  the  most  disgraceful  charges 
against  M.  Roustan,  of  acting  under  most  questionable  mercenary  considera¬ 
tions,  the  latter  was  forced  to  bring  an  action  for  slander,  which,  on  Decem¬ 
ber  15th,  resulted  in  his  utter  failure  to  obtain  a  verdict,  and  ultimately  in  his 
recall  from  Tunis,  of  which  all  Frenchmen  had  become  heartily  sick. 

The  fate  of  the  treaty  is  inextricably  mixed  up  with  the  shifting  of 
French  politics  generally.  After  the  elections,  M.  Gambetta  was,  by  the 
voice  of  the  country  at  large,  called  to  the  premiership.  Under  the  free 
trade  auspices  of  M.  Gambetta  hopeful  progress  was  made ;  but  when  the 
French  session  again  opened,  on  January  10th,  Gambetta  was  already  becom¬ 
ing  unpopular.  A  few  days  later  he  submitted  a  programme  for  revising  the 
French  constitution  under  certain  limitations  by  the  chamber  and  senate  in 


— 


M.  GAMBETTA 

Page  346. 


1884] 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 


347 


congress.  He  proposed  to  adopt  his  old  project  of  scrutin  de  liste  for  the 
chamber,  giving  to  it  also  more,  and  the  senate  less,  control  over  expend¬ 
iture  ;  also  to  modify  the  life-senatorships  and  widen  the  electoral  basis  of 
the  senate.  These  propositions  made  enemies  on  all  sides,  and  chiefly  under 
the  dread  of  a  Gambetta  dictatorship  they  were  twice  defeated  at  the  end  of 
January  by  heavy  majorities,  and  M.  Freycinet  formed  a  new  ministry,  with 
M.  Tirard  as  minister  of  commerce.  The  pronounced  protectionism  of  the 
new  minister  brought  concession  to  a  standstill  ;  it  was  found  impossible  to 
obtain  any  such  reductions  from  the  prohibitory  French  tariff  as  made  a 
treaty  worth  having,  and  on  February  23d  M.  Tirard  finally  announced  that 
negotiations  were  broken  off,  and  introduced  a  bill,  giving  to  England  simply 
the  treatment  of  the  most  favored  nation. 

Still  worse  evils  were  to  follow  from  the  shifty  character  of  French  poli¬ 
tics.  So  far  back  as  February,  1881,  an  Egyptian  colonel,  named  Achmet  el 
Ourabi — later  known  as  Ourabi,  or  Arabi  Bey — had  been  imprisoned  for 
insubordination,  and  rescued  by  his  troops,  the  revolutionary  offense  being 
injudiciously  let  pass.  On  September  10th,  Arabi,  who  had  been  sent  away 
from  Alexandria,  ordered  his  regiment  there,  in  defiance  of  orders.  Cheriff 
Pasha,  being  then  premier  in  Egypt,  promised  to  disperse  the  mutinous 
troops,  but  failed  ;  and  a  Turkish  civil  commission  only  led  to  Arabi  again 
leaving  the  city,  with  an  ovation  and  with  many  threats.  At  Christmas  the 
Khedive  opened  the  chamber  of  notables,  and  was  well  received  ;  and  on 
January  8th  a  joint  dispatch  was  presented  to  him  by  the  English  and 
French  representatives,  stating  that  the  two  nations  were  resolved  to  main¬ 
tain  his  authority.  There  is  no  doubt  that  M.  Gambetta  had  formed  a  true 
view  of  the  situation,  and  was  disposed  to  act  energetically  with  England  to 
maintain  order.  Urged  on  by  Arabi,  the  chamber  began  to  dispute  with  the 
Anglo-French  control,  and  the  mutinous  colonel  got  himself  made  under¬ 
minister  of  war;  the  porte  added  to  the  disorder  by  protesting  against  the 
joint  note.  In  February  Cheriff  was  forced  to  resign,  and  a  new  ministry 
formed  under  Mahmoud  Sahmi,  which  at  once  made  a  large  increase  in  the 
army  and  proclaimed  a  “constitution.’’  The  French  controller  resigned,  and 
European  officials  were  dismissed  wholesale  ;  and  early  in  April,  under  pre¬ 
tense  of  a  plot  against  himself,  Arabi  got  all  the  Circassian  officers  in  the 
army  who  opposed  his  influence  condemned  to  death,  procuring  false  evidence 
by  torture.  They  were  sent  to  Turkey  instead  by  the  combined  influence  of 
England  and  the  porte,  and  the  chamber  dismissed;  but  later  on,  May  10th, 
the  notables  were  again  convened  by  Arabi,  without  the  consent  of  the 
Khedive  and  against  the  law.  Meantime  the  change  of  government  in 
France  had  apparently  paralyzed  Anglo-French  interference.  A  fidgety  ner¬ 
vousness  had  taken  the  place  of  M.  Gambetta’s  clear  policy,  and  France  would 
neither  adopt  any  policy  of  her  own  nor  consent  to  invoke  the  interference 
of  Turkey  as  suzerain,  which  appeared  to  England  and  other  powers  the  best 
solution  of  the  difficulty.  At  length  things  became  intolerable.  On  May 
15th  the  French  and  English  fleets  were  ordered  to  Alexandria,  and  ten  days 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


[1871 


348 

later  an  identical  note  was  handed  in  by  the  two  powers,  demanding  that  the 
military  leaders  should  leave  the  country,  allowing  them,  however,  rank  and 
pay.  This  was  met  by  defiance  as  before ;  but  England  was  still  hampered 
by  the  reluctance  of  France  either  to  act  or  allow  Turkey  to  act ;  and  when 
the  latter  sent  Dervish  Pasha  as  a  commissioner  on  June  7th,  there  was  a 
general  hope  that  this  measure  would  be  successful.  It  turned  out,  however, 
that  Dervish  had  brought  an  Ottoman  decoration  for  Arabi  ;  and  on  June  nth 
occurred  savage  anti-Christian  riots  in  Alexandria,  stirred  up  by  Arabi  and 
his  prefect,  in  which  over  a  hundred  Europeans  were  killed.  This  helped  to 
bring  matters  to  a  crisis,  and  England  and  F ranee  jointly  proposed  a 
European  conference,  which  Turkey  for  long  refused  to  join.  It  met  without 
her  on  June  23d,  but  meantime,  constant  and  fresh  armaments  by  Arabi,  in 
defiance  of  repeated  protests  and  of  the  Sultan’s  own  express  commands,  com¬ 
pelled  Admiral  Seymour  to  bombard  the  forts,  when  Arabi  evacuated  the  town 
under  cover  of  a  flag  of  truce,  intrenching  himself  some  miles  distant  at  Kafr- 
Dawar,  and  liberating  the  convicts  already  in  jail  for  the  massacre  of  a  month 
before,  to  again  massacre  the  Christians  and  fire  the  town,  which  was  done 
with  the  utmost  ferocity.  Alexandria  was  now  perforce  occupied  by  Eng¬ 
land,  and  preparations  for  war  were  hurried  on  by  the  British  government, 
while  Arabi  was  formally  deposed  by  proclamation  of  the  khedive,  now 
under  British  protection.  Urged  on  by  fear  of  impending  British  action,  the 
porte  on  July  24th  entered  the  conference,  and  accepted,  though  in  an 
evasive  manner,  the  invitation  to  interfere  by  force  of  arms,  attempting,  with 
no  success,  to  make  it  a  condition  that  England  should  retire.  Meantime 
France  had  retired  more  and  more  from  all  action,  till  finally,  at  the  end  of 
July,  M.  Freycinet  was  actually  refused  by  the  chamber  a  small  credit  of 
£376,000  for  guarding  the  Suez  Canal.  This  led  to  the  downfall  of  the 
ministry,  and  F ranee  was  left  without  a  government  for  more  than  a  week, 
when  a  cabinet  was  formed  by  M.  Duclerc  August  7,  1882. 

On  the  27th  of  November  the  French  steamer  Cambronne  was  sunk  in 
the  British  Channel  by  a  collision,  and  fourteen  lives  were  lost.  On  the  9th 
of  December,  Jean  Joseph  Louis  Blanc,  historian  and  radical,  died  at  Cannes 
aged  sixty-seven  years.  He  was  born  at  Madrid,  October  28th,  1813,  and 
before  the  revolution  of  1848  had  gained  a  European  reputation  as  a 
radical  writer;  Louis  Philippe  said  of  his  “ Revolution  Francaise :  Histoire 
de  Dix  Ans ,  1830-1840,”  that  “it  acted  like  a  battering  ram  against  the 
bulwarks  of  loyalty  in  France.”  It  seemed  as  if  he  was  to  take  a  prominent 
part  in  the  revolution  of  1848,  but  he  was  accused  to  the  government,  and 
prosecuted  for  conspiracy,  but  made  his  escape  to  London,  where  he  devoted 
his  time  to  voluminous  writing.  On  the  fall  of  the  empire  in  1870  he 
returned  to  France,  and  in  1871  was  a  member  of  the  chamber  of  deputies. 

M.  Gambetta  died  on  January  1st,  1883,  surrounded  by  his  friends,  at 
Ville  D’Avray.  While  the  remains  of  this  eminent  Frenchman  were  lying 
in  state,  M.  Paul  Deronlede  had  an  unseemly  quarrel  with  M.  Meyer,  the 
editor  of  the  Lanterne,  whom  he  accused  of  having  insulted  Gambetta. 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


1884] 


349 


High  words  ended  in  blows,  and  both  were  expelled  from  the  mortuary 
chamber  by  the  guard  of  honor. 

M.  Gambetta  had  been  wounded  by  a  pistol  shot,  and  on  account  of 
persisting  to  resume  his  public  duties  against  the  advice  of  his  physician  had 
hastened  his  death.  A  magnificent  funeral  at  the  public  expense  was  given 
the  remains,  and  orations  were  delivered  by  MM.  Duclerc,  Challimel  and 
Lacour.  All  the  departments  of  government,  as  well  as  the  bar  and  many 
other  organizations,  united  to  do  him  honor,  while  French  patriots  in  other 
countries  united  on  the  same  day,  January  6th,  to  recognize  the  event  with 
suitable  ceremonies,  and  resolutions  of  condolence  were  passed.  Gambetta 
was  born  at  Cahorson  October  30th,  1838,  and  was  a  member  of  a  Genoese 
family.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Paris  in  1859,  but  his  name  did  not 
come  prominently  before  the  public  until  1868,  when  he  appeared  to  defend 
certain  political  offenders  and  showed  himself  a  determined  enemy  of  the 
second  empire.  He  was  elected  to  the  chamber  of  deputies  in  1869,  and 
May  5th,  1870,  pronounced  himself  in  favor  of  a  republic.  After  the 
downfall  of  the  empire  at  Sedan,  he  became  minister  of  the  interior  and 
remained  at  Paris  until  it  had  been  completely  invested  by  the  Germans. 
Then  he  escaped  in  a  balloon  and  alighted  at  Amiens.  He  proceeded  to 
Tours,  where  the  provisional  government  had  its  seat,  and  was  made  minister 
of  war.  He  assumed  unlimited  power  and  tried  to  stir  up  the  provinces  to 
defend  Paris.  At  the  general  election  to  form  a  republic  in  1871,  he  issued  a 
decree  that  no  officer  of  the  second  empire  should  take  part  in  it,  but  at  the 
instigation  of  Bismarck  he  modified  the  decree  and  resigned  his  office.  He 
became  a  member  of  the  chambers  of  Paris  and  was  leader  of  the  extreme 
left.  By  his  impetuous  and  radical  speech  at  Grenoble  he  caused  a  severe 
reaction  in  popular  sentiment,  which  led  to  the  retirement  of  M.  Thiers 
In  1877  he  was  more  moderate  and  conservative,  and  led  the  republicans  in 
their  triumph  of  that  year.  But  he  was  twice  prosecuted  for  too  bold 
speech,  and  once  condemned  to  imprisonment  in  that  same  year.  When  M. 
Grevy  became  president  of  the  republic  in  1879  Gambetta  was  elected  to 
the  presidency  of  the  chamber  of  deputies.  He  became  prime-minister  of 
France  in  October,  1881,  which  position  he  held  until  August,  1882,  as  we 
have  already  mentioned. 

The  death  of  the  French  statesman  was  followed  by  that  of  two  of  her 
prominent  generals.  The  first  was  General  Antoine  Eugene  Alfred  Chanzy, 
who  was  buried  with  military  honors  at  Chaloris  on  January  8th,  1883.  Fie 
was  born  in  1823,  and  served  as  an  apprentice  in  the  navy,  but  in  1843 
graduated  from  the  Paris  military  school  as  sub-lieutenant  of  zouaves.  He 
served  with  distinction  in  Algeria,  Italy  and  Syria,  and  in  a  second  war  in 
Algeria.  In  1868  he  was  made  general  of  brigade,  and  in  the  early  part  of 
the  Franco-Prussian  war  rose  to  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  second  army 
of  the  Loire.  He  narrowly  escaped  death  from  the  commune  in  1870.  In 
1872  he  was  a  member  of  the  chambers,  and  December,  1875,  was  chosen 
senator  for  life.  In  1878  he  received  the  grand  cross  of  the  legion  of  honor. 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


350 


[1871 


On  the  same  day  that  General  Chanzy  was  buried  his  old  comrade-in-arms, 
General  Horise  de  Valdau,  died  in  an  apoplectic  fit. 

On  January  16th,  Prince  Napoleon,  commonly  known  as  “  Plon-Plon,” 
was  arrested  in  consequence  of  a  manifesto  which  had  been  extensively 
circulated  in  Paris,  and  in  which  the  claim  was  advanced  that  the  Napoleonic 
inheritance  should  be  restored  to  the  family.  He  was  imprisoned  in  the 
conciergerie,  and  the  paper  in  which  the  manifesto  first  appeared  was 
confiscated  by  government.  The  chambers  approved  this  action  by  a  vote 
of  four  hundred  and  seventeen  to  eighty-nine. 

In  an  interview  with  a  representative  of  the  Temps  Prince  Napoleon 
denied  that  he  had  any  desire  to  obtain  personal  power,  and  said  that  if  the 
count  of  Chambord  ascended  the  throne  he  would  be  the  first  to  seize  a 
musket  and  mount  the  barricades.  He  added  that  he  wished  to  see  a  strong 
man  at  the  head  of  the  government  and  would  support  President  Grevy  if 
he  was  chosen  by  the  people.  The  prince  declared  the  present  government 
to  be  a  failure.  “  Plon-Plon  ”  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  escape  when 
committed  to  the  conciergerie.  A  bill  was  at  once  introduced  into  the 
chamber  of  deputies  by  M.  Floquet,  prohibiting  the  presence  in  France  or 
Algeria  of  any  member  of  former  French  dynastic  families,  and  M.  Fallieres, 
the  minister  of  the  interior,  brought  in  a  bill  to  suppress  all  future  manifesta¬ 
tions  by  French  pretenders.  On  January  21st  France  made  formal  protest 
against  the  abolition  of  ducal  control  in  Egypt  and  recalled  M.  Bredir,  the 
French  controller. 

Paul  Gustave  Dore,  the  famous  French  painter  and  designer,  died  in 
Paris,  January  23d.  Dore  was  born  at  Strasburg  January  6th,  1833,  was 
educated  at  Paris,  and  in  1848  made  his  first  public  appearance  as  an  artist 
with  some  pen  and  ink  drawings  sent  to  the  salon.  His  paintings  would 
have  made  him  famous,  but  his  world-wide  reputation  is  based  upon  the 
illustrations  he  has  furnished  to  many  valuable  books.  He  was  a  very 
prolific  designer,  and  the  wood  engravers  have  done  much  to  make  him 
famous.  Among  the  best  known  works  illustrated  by  him  are  the  Bible, 
Dante,  La  Fontaine’s  Fables,  Don  Quixote  and  Taine’s  Travels  in  the 
Pyrenees. 

Some  alarm  was  evinced  in  social  and  commercial  circles  by  a  visit  of 
the  ex-Empress  Eugenie  to  Paris,  January  23d,  and  the  wildest  rumors  were 
in  circulation  that  a  Bonapartist  demonstration  was  imminent.  The  bill  of 
M.  Fallieres,  minister  of  the  interior,  was  brought  forward  again,  and  by  a 
vote  of  three  hundred  and  forty-three  to  one  hundred  and  sixtv-three 
the  M.  Fabre  compromise  bill  was  passed,  and  at  midnight  January  31st- 
February  1st  the  chambers  adjourned  for  one  week.  February  1st  Prince 
Jerome  Bonaparte  was  removed  to  the  hospital  on  account  of  illness, 
and  on  the  5th  the  examining  magistrate  Benoit  made  an  order  sending 
him  before  the  court  upon  an  indictment  for  an  attempt  to  overthrow 
the  government. 

On  the  8th  the  report  of  the  senate  committee  on  the  expulsion  bill 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


351 


1884] 

referred  to  the  unimportant  incident  which  provoked  the  recent  agitation, 
and  declared  that  the  republic  is  in  no  danger  from  the  princes  remaining  in 
France.  It  adds  that  the  bill  could  not  effect  the  exile  of  the  Count  de 
Chambord,  and  concludes  by  asking  the  rejection  of  the  measure  by  the 
senate.  It  was  also  reported  that  the  Count  de  Chambord  would  issue  a 
manifesto  after  the  final  adjournment  of  the  chambers.  There  was  held  a 
meeting  of  communists,  at  which  the  following  resolutions  were  unanimously 
passed:  1.  The  government  is  called  upon  to  decree  the  immediate  sur¬ 
render  to  the  nation  of  all  the  property  real  and  personal  now  possessed 
by  the  thirty-three  members  of  the  Orleans  family.  2.  This  act  of  preser¬ 
vation  and  justice  is  to  be  extended  to  the  Bonaparte  and  Bourbon  families. 
3.  The  appropriation  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation  of  all  the  real  and  personal 
property  of  the  Rothschild  family.  The  adoption  of  the  last  resolution  is 
particularly  significant  at  the  present  juncture.  After  the  prince  comes  the 
turn  of  private  individuals. 

Prince  Napoleon  and  his  son  Louis  went  to  London  March 
12,  1884,  as  was  claimed  by  a  certain  Bonapartist  newspaper  to 

avoid  the  formal  act  of  expulsion,  intending  to  take  up  their  resi¬ 
dence  in  Brussels.  The  committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
unanimously  rejected  the  senate  expulsion  bill,  and  negatived  by  a  vote  of  six 
to  five  M.  Barbey’s  bill.  The  committee  then  approved  M.  Floquet’s 
proposal,  which  provided  for  the  immediate  expulsion  of  the  members  of 
families  having  reigned  in  France.  The  managing  committee  of  the 
radicals  left  the  democratic  union,  and  the  republican  union  have  decided 
against  the  measure  of  M.  Floquet  and  in  favor  of  the  proposals  introduced 
by  M.  Barbey.  Prince  Napoleon  has  published  a  paper  entitled  L'  Appel  dit 
Penple ,  containing  a  copy  of  his  recent  manifesto.  President  Grevy  received 
an  important  and  influential  delegation  of  merchants  and  manufactur¬ 
ers,  who  presented  a  petition  calling  attention  to  the  critical  state  of  affairs 
caused  by  the  ministerial  crisis. 

In  the  senate  February  15th  M.  Denes,  minister  of  justice,  introduced 
the  bill  proposed  by  Senator  Barbey  rendering  the  princes  liable  to  expulsion 
by  the  decree  of  the  president  of  the  republic.  A  motive  for  urgency  was 
voted  and  the  bill  was  at  once  referred  to  a  committee,  who  made  a  report 
advising  the  rejection  of  Senator  Barbey’s  substitute  for  the  expulsion  bill. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  cabinet,  February  18th,  President  Grevy  accepted 
the  resignation  of  the  ministers,  and  it  was  officially  announced  that  M. 
Ferry  had  been  intrusted  with  the  formation  of  the  new  ministry.  M.  Ferry 
assumed  the  post  of  minister  of  foreign  affairs;  M.  Martin  Feuille,  minister 
of  the  interior;  M.  Waldeck  Rosseau,  minister  of  justice;  M.  Tirard, 
minister  of  finance;  General  Thibaudin,  minister  of  war;  M.  Raynal, 
minister  of  public  works  ;  and  M.  Cochery,  minister  of  posts  and  telegraphs. 
The  republican  union  resolved  to  support  a  cabinet  determined  to  use  the 
existing  laws  against  all  pretenders. 


352 


FRANCE.— THE  NEW  REPUBLIC. 


[1884 


In  the  spring  of  1883  the  French  government  became  embroiled  in  compli¬ 
cations  both  in  Asia  and  Africa,  which  led  to  hostilities  with  the  natives  in 
both  instances.  An  influential  foothold  had  been  gained  in  Cochin  China, 
dating  back  to  the  time  of  the  empire.  In  June,  1874,  Phra  Norodon  was 
crowned  as  independent  sovereign  of  Cambodia  under  the  protectorate  of 
France,  and  he  acceeded  to  that  country  the  right  to  establish  a  colony  on  the 
Makiang  River,  at  a  point  where  its  four  tributaries  unite  before  entering  into 
the  China  Sea.  After  this  the  French  came  to  have  considerable  influence  in 
the  province,  and  regarded  their  colony  as  especially  valuable.  The  king  of 
Cochin  China  acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of  the  emperor  of  China,  but  his 
vassalage  was  scarcely  more  than  nominal.  The  monarch  of  this  country, 
which  had  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  the  province  of  Tonquin  on  the 
north,  made  a  treaty  with  the  French  in  1874,  by  which  three  ports  were 
opened  to  the  commerce  of  Europe,  and  the  integrity  of  Cochin  China  was 
assured. 

On  the  20th  of  March  four  thousand  Annamite  or  Chinese  troops  attacked 
Hanoi,  the  capital  of  Tonquin,  but  were  repulsed  by  the  French,  who  had 
entered  under  the  claim  that  the  inability  of  the  king  of  Annam  to  assure  the 
security  of  Tonquin  compelled  France  to  definitely  establish  herself  there. 
A  letter  from  President  M.  Grevy  advised  the  king  not  to  resist  the  demand, 
but  recognize  the  protectorate  of  France  and  its  guarantee.  Re-enforcements 
were  dispatched  from  France,  and  two  thousand  troops  set  sail  from  Toulon 
for  Tonquin  in  the  early  part  of  May.  On  the  26th  of  this  month,  as  Captain 
Riviere  was  reconnoitering  on  the  coast  with  a  party  of  four  hundred  men, 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Hanoi,  preparatory  to  landing  other 
parties,  he  was  attacked  by  a  superior  force,  chiefly  composed  of  pirates,  and 
driven  back  with  a  loss  of  twenty-six  killed  and  over  fifty  wounded.  The 
troops  subsequently  reoccupied  the  positions.  Additional  troops  were  hurried 
forward  from  Saigon.  M.  de  Brun,  minister  of  marine,  sent  a  telegram  order¬ 
ing  the  governor  of  Cochin  China  to  notify  the  French  troops  that  the  cham¬ 
ber  of  deputies  has  unanimously  passed  the  Tonquin  credit,  and  that  France 
will  avenge  her  glorious  children.  Two  additional  iron-clads  and  a  cruiser 
were  ordered  to  proceed  East  directly.  A  dispatch  from  Hong  Kong,  dated 
May  27th,  stated  that  China  had  taken  a  conciliatory  attitude  on  the  Tonquin 
question,  but  would  maintain  its  right  of  suzerainty  over  Tonquin. 

The  complication  in  Africa  arose  from  a  demand  for  the  payment  of  sums 
due  the  French  government  from  the  kingdom  of  Madagascar.  To  accom¬ 
plish  this  the  French  troops,  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  bombarded  Majunga, 
and  after  an  engagement  lasting  six  hours  landed  and  carried  several  military 
posts  which  had  been  erected  by  the  Hovason  Sakalava  territory  in  defiance 
of  French  rights.  Admiral  Pierre  also  occupied  the  Custom  House  at  Ma¬ 
junga,  thus  securing  the  road  and  waterway  leading  to  Tananarivo,  the  capital 
of  the  island.  In  Senegal  a  French  column  under  Colonel  Desbordes  suc¬ 
ceeding  in  driving  the  hostile  natives  back  a  distance  of  thirty-eight  miles, 
and  tranquillity  was  established  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Niger. 


xxyiii 


IBS. 


HE  discussion  of  the  revision  of  the  Constitution  which 
had  been  adopted  in  1875  when  the  reactionists  were 
in  the  majority,  came  to  an  issue  in  1884.  The  gov¬ 
ernment  felt  impelled  by  fear  of  a  disruption  and  the 
arraying  of  the  advanced  Republicans  against  it  in  the 
pending  elections  to  bring  forward  a  program  of  re¬ 
form.  This  Constitution,  it  is  true,  recognized  the 
principle  of  universal  suffrage,  but  to  place  a  check  upon 
democracy,  it  provided  for  a  Senate  which  had  the  power  ot 
veto  upon  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  The  Senate  was  elected 
by  a  very  select  body  of  electors  and  then  additional  sena¬ 
tors  to  the  number  of  one-third  of  those  thus  elected  were 
chosen  by  the  Senate  itself  to  hold  office  for  life.  The  small¬ 
est  hamlet  had  the  same  representation  as  the  entire  city  of 
Paris.  M.  Ferry  introduced  into  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
a  bill  modifying  this  constitution  of  the  Senate  which  was 
at  variance  with  republican  ideas.  The  scheme  of  revision 
proposed  to  do  away  with  life  senators  and  fill  their  seats  at  death  with  those 
who  had  been  elected  for  nine  years.  The  number  of  senators  was  also  to 
bear  a  certain  ratio  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  the  municipality  repre¬ 
sented  by  them.  To  prevent  the  possibility  of  a  dead-lock  between  the  two 
houses  the  Senate  was  to  have  a  suspensive  veto  over  measures  passed  by  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  instead  of  the  power  of  absolute  rejection.  The  bill 
thus  introduced  was  discussed  from  May  24  to  July  3.  The  clauses  doing 
away  with  life  senatorship  and  declaring  the  republican  form  of  government 
were  agreed  to  but  other  revisions  were  stricken  out.  The  congress  which 
met  at  the  Palace  of  Versailles  August  4,  adopted  the  modified  bill  and  ad¬ 
journed  August  13.  The  Senate  began  the  debate  upon  its  reorganization, 
November  4,  and  sent  it  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  it  was  amended, 
but  M.  Ferry  made  the  rejection  of  the  amendment  a  government  question, 
after  which  the  deputies  passed  the  bill  with  a  vote  of  confidence  by  a 
majority  of  fifty-three. 

The  first  senatorial  elections  of  one-third  of  the  members,  under  the  new 
revision,  occurred  January  25,  1885.  There  were  eighty-seven  seats  to  be  filled 
and  the  result  was  favorable  to  republicanism,  giving  the  Ministerial  Left  a 
clear  majority  and  depriving  the  Left  Center  of  the  casting  vote. 


354 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1884 


France  in  1882  laid  claim  to  a  protectorate  over  the  Kingdom  of  Annam 
and  especially  over  the  province  of  Tonquin,  basing  the  same  upon  a  treaty 
which  had  been  made  with  that  government  in  1874.  The  people  of  Tonquin 
resented  the  claim,  especially  as  the  Empire  of  China  asserted  suzerainty  over 
the  same  territory.  France  attempted  to  enforce  the  treaty  by  military  force 
and  was  stoutly  resisted  by  the  Black  Flags,  a  force  of  Chinese  guerrillas 
settled  in  the  northern  portion.  After  continued  operations  and  much  sacri¬ 
fice  the  Black  Flags  were  forced  to  the  extreme  north  and  the  Chinese  gov¬ 
ernment  agreed  to  a  provisionary  treaty  in  which  the  protectorate  of  France 
was  acknowledged  and  the  Chinese  claims  of  effective  suzerainty  were  with¬ 
drawn.  Certain  points  in  Tonquin  which  were  garrisoned  by  Chinese  troops 
were  to  be  given  up  to  the  French.  But  when  the  French  troops  came  to 
occupy  Langson,  one  of  the  points  in  question,  a  severe  conflict  arose  with  the 
garrison  stationed  there.  The  Republic  demanded  apology  and  indemnity, 
but  the  Chinese  government  denied  that  its  officers  had  done  wrong  and  re¬ 
asserted  its  claims  over  Tonquin.  Whereupon  France  began  a  series  of 
reprisals  and  her  naval  squadron  bombarded  the  arsenal  of  Foochow,  captured 
Kelung  and  proclaimed  a  blockade  of  the  ports  of  Formosa.  During  the  prog¬ 
ress  of  the  war  in  the  early  part  of  1883,  the  King  of  Annam  died  and  a 
treaty  was  concluded  with  his  successor  acknowledging  the  French  protec¬ 
torate  and  giving  France  the  control  of  the  province  of  Tonquin.  This  treaty 
was  ratified  August  21,  1883,  and  confirmed  by  the  convention  of  June  6, 
1884.  The  Chinese  government  however  held  several  strong  positions  in  the 
northern  portion  of  Tonquin  and  the  French  were  forced  to  retire  from  the 
hill  country  in  December,  1884.  The  attempted  descent  of  the  Chinese  forces 
into  the  delta  had  been  checked  by  a  desperate  battle  in  which  the  entire 
available  forces  of  the  French  were  engaged.  The  stronghold  of  Kep,  or 
Lang-Kep,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  This  position  was  on  the  main 
road  to  Langson,  the  entrance  to  the  hill  country.  The  battle  lasted  for 
nearly  two  days,  in  which  the  Chinese  displayed  great  improvement  in  order 
and  discipline,  and  were  found  to  be  armed  with  modern  rifles  of  German 
manufacture.  A  detachment  of  Chinese  troops  which  had  been  sent  to  flank 
the  French  forces  was  defeated  at  Chu,  fifty-three  miles  east  of  Kep.  Near 
the  end  of  January,  1885,  a  force  of  6,000  French  troops  were  concentrated  at 
Kep  and  Chu,  preparing  to  make  an  attack  on  Langson,  January  30,  General 
de  Negrier,  commander  of  the  advanced  column,  ascended  from  Kep  in  a 
balloon  and  reconnoitred  the  position  of  the  enemy,  in  the  direction  of  Phu- 
Lang-Tung.  Leaving  his  balloon  to  float  in  the  air  he  embarked  with  his 
troops  and  effected  a  union  with  the  forces  of  General  Briere  de  Lisle  at  Chu. 
February  2  the  two  generals  set  out  with  their  forces  from  Chu  and  after  sev¬ 
eral  hard  contests  with  the  enemy  at  their  entrenched  positions  succeeded  in 
capturing  and  holding  Dong-Son  at  noon  February  6.  Thirty-six  fortresses 
had  been  taken  with  large  stores  of  provisions  and  gunpowder.  Resting  here 
for  four  days,  the  column  moved  forward  on  the  10th,  while  the  Chinese  re¬ 
treated  before  them  and  took  up  a  strong  position  upon  the  hills  in  the  front 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


355 


of  Langson,  where  they  concentrated  a  large  force.  The  battle  on  the  12th 
resulted  in  a  victory  for  the  French,  who  marched  into  the  city  on  the  next 
day.  Several  severe  engagements  followed  at  different  points  until  the  middle 
of  March,  when  2,500  fresh  troops  arrived  from  Europe,  making  the  entire 
number  of  French  in  Tonquin  at  least  25,000.  The  repeated  victories,  how¬ 
ever,  were  barren  of  results  and  this  gave  rise  to  severe  criticism  at  home. 
March  24,  the  French  were  checked  in  their  operations  near  the  frontier  of 
China,  for  that  government  seemed  to  be  able  to  pour  down  upon  the 
French  an  immense  horde  of  men  to  take  the  place  of  those  who  had 
fallen. 

March  27,  1885,  a  great  mass  of  Chinese  troops  advanced  in  three  col¬ 
umns  and  attacked  the  French  position  with  impetuosity.  The  general  in 
command  of  the  French  was  severely  wounded  in  the  early  part  of  the  en¬ 
gagement  and  Colonel  Herbinger  succeeded  him.  This  officer  fearing  that 
his  ammunition  would  run  short  ordered  a  retreat  and  fell  back  on  Dong- 
Son.  The  general-in-chief,  Briere  de  l’lsle  sent  all  his  available  force  for¬ 
ward  to  Kep  and  Chu,  where  he  found  the  situation  more  favorable  than  he 
had  supposed.  Colonel  Herbinger  after  two  slight  engagements  evacuated 
Dong-Son  and  March  30  retreated  to  Kep  and  Chu.  The  general,  thinking 
that  the  evacuation  of  the  two  strongholds  was  too  precipitate  and  the 
latter  inexcusable,  suspended  him  and  put  Colonel  Desbordes  in  his  place. 
Colonel  Herbinger  was  sent  home  for  trial,  but  acquitted  on  the  ground 
of  the  new  and  sudden  responsibility  thrust  upon  him.  When  the  news  of 
this  disaster  reached  France  it  caused  the  downfall  of  the  ministry  of  M. 
Ferry.  One  of  M.  Ferry’s  last  official  acts  was  to  charter  nine  steamers 
to  transport  the  8,000  troops  to  Tonquin  which  were  to  embark  April  12th. 

General  Campenon,  Minister  of  War,  had  resigned  January  4th,  be¬ 
cause  the  Cabinet  extended  the  operations  against  China  beyond  the  Ton¬ 
quin  delta,  thus  weakening  the  army  for  the  defence  of  France  by  sending 
out  re-inforcements.  General  Lewal  accepted  the  portfolio  and  the  charge 
of  military  operations,  which  had  been  under  the  control  of  the  Minister  of 
the  Navy,  was  assigned  to  him.  This  war  had  never  been  popular  in 
France  and  the  news  of  the  disaster  to  the  French  [arms  at  Langson  caused 
the  accusation  that  M.  Ferry  was  withholding  information  from  the  pub¬ 
lic.  Attacks  were  made  upon  the  government  and  the  Republicans  did 
not  dare  to  recognize  him  as  their  leader.  When  he  asked  for  an  extraordi¬ 
nary  credit  to  continue  the  war,  M.  Clemenceau  declared  that  he  had  not 
ministers  before  him  but  “  accused  persons,”  and  said  that  succor  must  be 
sent  to  the  soldiers  fighting  against  great  odds,  but  “  there  must  be  ministers 
who  would  speak  the  truth.”  M.  Ferry’s  request  was  refused  by  a  vote  of 
308  to  1 6 1 ,  upon  which  he  announced  that  the  cabinet  would  hand  in  their 
resignations  to  the  President.  A  new  cabinet  was  formed  April  5>  1 88 5 
and  on  the  very  day  on  which  they  accepted  office  the  ministers  were  in¬ 
formed  that^  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  signed  with  the  Chinese  pleni¬ 
potentiaries.  But  in  order  that  they  might  be  prepared  in  event  that  there 


35*5 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1884 


was  any  deception  in  regard  to  a  peace  which  had  been  obtained  in  a  manner 
so  irregular  they  asked  a  war  credit  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  francs. 

General  Campenon,  who  resumed  the  portfolio  of  Minister  of  War  in  the 
new  cabinet,  was  prepared  to  prosecute  with  vigor  the  occupation  of  Tonquin 
and  avenge  the  disaster  to  the  French  arms. 

M.  Brisson,  the  president  of  the  cabinet,  had  not  been  aware  that  secret 
negotiations  for  peace  had  been  going  on  in  Paris  because  M.  Grevy  did  not 
wish  to  embarrass  the  new  ministry  by  asking  them  to  deal  with  so  compli¬ 
cated  and  doubtful  a  matter  as  that  which  had  been  entertained  by  M.  Ferry, 
and  he  also  feared  that  new  complications  and  interruptions  might  arise  which 
would  cause  the  loss  of  all  chances  for  peace.  He  therefore  appointed  M.  Bil¬ 
lot  to  deal  with  the  Chinese  plenipotentiaries.  Before  the  credit  which  had 
been  asked  for  by  the  new  cabinet  had  been  voted  the  agreement  had  been 
ratified  and  the  gradual  evacuation  of  the  Tonquin  had  been  ordered  by  the 
Chinese  government.  General  Briere  de  l’lsle  received  notice  of  the  conclu¬ 
sion  of  peace  on  April  10,  and  sent  emissaries  to  notify  the  Chinese,  but  before 
they  arrived  the  military  mandarins  who  had  not  received  their  orders  from 
Peking  had  ordered  an  attack  upon  Kep.  This  attack  was  repelled  and  the 
force  of  2,000  men  were  driven  back  beyond  Bac-Le.  The  same  day  French 
gunboats  were  attacked  on  the  Black  River  and  the  Chinese  were  routed  by  the 
garrison  of  Hung  Hoa.  Neither  party  in  the  field  welcomed  the  cessation  of 
hostilities,  but  on  May  5  the  Chinese  evacuated  Langson  and  within  twenty 
days  they  retired  from  the  province  of  Tonquin.  The  French  had  much 
difficulty  with  the  Black  Flags  and  their  commander,  Luh-Vinh-Phuoc,  who 
recommenced  their  disturbances  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Chinese  forces. 
The  government  had  appointed  General  Courcy  to  the  chief  command  in 
Tonquin,  and  had  formed  two  divisions  for  active  service  in  that  country,  and  a 
third  to  remain  in  the  south  of  France  as  a  reserve  ready  to  sail  at  command. 
This  general  assumed  command  June  1,  1885. 

In  the  preliminaries  of  peace  and  the  final  disposition  of  the  subject  the 
chief  difficulty  arose  over  the  question  of  the  claim  of  China  to  surzerainty 
over  the  Kingdom  of  Annam.  This  was  treated  in  a  vague  phrase  which  left 
the  historical  and  sentimental  claim  exactly  as  it  had  been,  at  the  same  time 
permitting  France  to  exercise  her  protectorate  with  a  free  hand.  The  new 
treaty  was  executed  June  9,  1885,  and  was  based  on  the  convention  of  Tient¬ 
sin  of  June  11,  1884,  which  had  been  ratified  by  imperial  decree  April  10, 
1885.  Order  was  to  be  restored  on  the  border  of  China  and  Tonquin,  each 
agreeing  not  to  cross  the  line.  China  promised  to  expel  the  bands  of  free¬ 
booters  that  were  in  her  territory  and  those  which  might  attempt  to  form, 
but  not  to  send  troops  into  Tonquin.  She  would  not  interfere  with  any  trea¬ 
ties  or  conventions  that  might  be  concluded  between  France  and  Annam. 
These  and  other  regulations  in  regard  to  residence  and  commerce  and  custom 
duties  were  embraced  in  the  treaty. 

General  Courcy  arrived  in  Tonquin  while  this  evacuation  of  Tonquin  by 
the  Chinese  troops  was  going  forward.  He  had  considerable  trouble  with 


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FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


357 


the  Black  Flags  but,  leaving  the  greater  part  of  his  forces  to  attend  to  this 
matter,  he  proceeded  to  Hue  to  present  his  credentials  as  French  resident  at 
the  Annamite  capital,  and  assume  the  practical  protectorate.  July  2,  1885,  he 
established  his  residence  at  the  official  town  in  the  house  of  the  French 
legation,  and  quartered  his  troops  across  the  river  several  thousand  yards 
away  and  near  the  native  soldiers.  Not  fearing  any  danger,  he  neglected  the 
precaution  to  strengthen  his  position  and  was  careless  about  sentry  posts. 
On  the  same  night  the  entire  Annamite  garrison  attacked  the  French  and 
burned  the  straw  huts  in  which  they  were  quartered.  The  French  sol¬ 
diers  lost  their  personal  effects,  but  held  their  ground  and  saved  their  pro¬ 
visions  and  ammunition.  At  dawn  they  charged  the  cowardly  Annamite 
soldiers  and  left  1,200  to  1,600  dead  on  the  field.  The  general  took  possession 
of  the  citadel,  and  became  master  of  the  town.  He  then  seized  the  person 
of  the  Regent,  Thuang,  and  induced  him  to  sign  a  manifesto  denouncing  the 
ministry  which  had  plotted  this  revolt,  and  respectfully  summoning  the  King 
and  Queen  who  had  fled,  to  return  to  the  place.  The  vast  treasures  in  the 
royal  treasury  were  guarded  by  French  Zouaves,  and  flying  squadrons  were 
sent  in  search  of  Thuyet,  the  prime  minister.  He  was  at  Camlo,  where  he 
detained  the  person  of  the  King.  The  Queen-mother  and  the  princes  of  the 
blood  returned  to  Hue,  but  Thoxman,  uncle  to  King  Tu  Due,  was  appointed 
sole  regent  by  the  royal  family  until  the  return  of  the  King.  A  new  council 
friendly  to  the  French  was  organized,  and  an  order  issued  directing  all  officials 
to  assist  in  restoring  tranquility  and  to  punish  rebels  and  marauders.  Thuyet 
and  his  insurgent  troops  were  cut  off  from  entering  Tonquin  in  order  to  join 
the  Black  Flags.  A  military  commission  was  sent  out  from  France  to  reor¬ 
ganize  the  army  of  Annam.  The  King  Tu  Due  was  dethroned  and  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  adopted  son  Chaul  Mong,  who  was  the  fourth  King  “devoted 
to  the  interests  of  France,”  put  upon  the  throne  in  three  years. 

In  addition  to  the  protectorate  over  Annam,  the  French  had  within  a  few 
years  assumed  protectorates  over  territory  in  other  parts  of  Asia,  Africa, 
South  America  and  Oceania,  some  of  which  had  caused  her  large  expendi¬ 
tures  of  money  and  life.  All  the  while  the  question  of  the  recovery  of  the 
Rhenish  provincies  of  Alsace-Lorrain,  which  had  been  lost  in  the  war  with 
Germany,  kept  continually  arising.  In  the  debates  between  M.  Clemenceau 
and  M.  Ferry  the  former  said:  “A  nation  whose  frontier  has  been  weakened 
should  not  scatter  its  forces  over  the  globe.”  The  anti-German  sentiment  was 
fostered  by  a  patriotic  league  which  selected  a  resident  of  Alsace  for  one  of 
its  officers.  He  was  a  distinguished  French  diplomat  and  historian  by  the 
name  of  M.  Rothan.  Although  he  had  been  chosen  against  his  will  the 
authorities  of  Strasburg  expelled  him  from  the  province,  in  August,  1885. 

The  election  of  President  of  the  Republic  occurred  December  28,  1885, 
and  resulted  in  the  reelection  of  M.  Grevy,  who  had  been  first  elected  in  1879. 
The  Right  had  proposed  to  defer  this  election  until  the  seats  vacant  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  had  been  filled,  but  the  Republicans  supported  the 
President,  who  ruled  that  the  congress  was  only  empowered  to  elect  a  presi- 


358 


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[1884 

dent  and  not  to  consider  a  motion  of  such  a  character.  A  turbulent  scene  of 
two  hours’  duration  ensued  and  the  attempt  of  the  Monarchists  to  cause  dis¬ 
turbance  and  discredit  the  proceedings  only  served  to  check  the  reaction 
which  had  set  in  against  the  Republic  at  the  failure  of  M.  Ferry’s  policy  in 
Tonquin  and  the  discovery  of  the  immense  deficit  that  had  grown  out  of  the 
war  in  Annam.  In  the  supplementary  elections  the  Republicans  had  been 
generally  successful.  The  extraordinary  session  of  the  Assembly  had  closed 
on  the  day  after  the  presidential  election.  Upon  his  entry  on  his  new  term 
of  office  M.  Grevy  had  followed  the  custom  and  pardoned  all  political  offend¬ 
ers.  Prince  Krapotkine  and  Louise  Michel  had  thus  gained  their  liberty. 

The  Brisson  cabinet,  which  had  only  been  formed  after  the  defeat  of  M. 
Ferry  to  bridge  over  the  time  of  the  elections,  suffered  a  substantial  defeat 
December  24,  when  the  demand  of  credit  for  Tonquin  and  Madagascar  was 
carried  by  only  four  votes  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  On  the  last  day  of 
the  session  M.  Brisson  and  his  cabinet  handed  in  their  resignations.  A  new 
ministry  was  formed  with  M.  de  Freycinet  as  President  and  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs.  This  new  cabinet  was  variously  designated  as  “the  long 
desired  reform  ministry,”  or  as  the  “  working  cabinet,”  and  in  derision  on 
account  of  its  composition  as  “  Noah's  Ark.”  The  peaceful  policy  in  Tonquin 
was  begun  by  the  recall  of  General  Courcy  and  the  appointment  of  Paul 
Bert  as  civil  governor.  M.  de  Freycinet  announced  that  the  protectorate 
over  Annam  and  Madagascar  would  rest  on  a  simple  basis  and  the  other 
ministers  promised  great  retrenchments  in  their  departments,  while  the 
Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industry  proposed  an  exposition  in  1889  to  com¬ 
memorate  the  Revolution  of  1789  to  show  the  world  the  progress  that  had 
taken  place  since  that  date. 

The  legislative  session  began  January  12,  1886,  and  at  once  their  attention 
was  taken  up  with  questions  pertaining  to  the  affairs  of  Tonquin  and  Algeria. 
The  Radicals  united  with  the  Reactionists  and  voted  for  the  motion  of  M. 
Rochefort  in  favor  of  granting  a  general  amnesty  to  all  political  offenders, 
and  the  revolters  in  Algeria  carried  the  motion  against  the  government  by  a 
majority  of  three.  But  the  Radicals  afterwards  repented  of  their  bargain, 
and  the  measure  was  defeated  February  6.  The  proposition  of  M.  Michelin 
to  investigate  the  cause  of  the  Tonquin  complications,  which  also  involved 
the  impeachment  of  M.  Ferry,  was  introduced  February  8,  and  was  lost  in  the 
Chamber  only  by  the  earnest  defense  of  M.  de  Freycinet,  who  contended  that 
the  expedition  arose  from  the  action  of  a  previous  cabinet  which  had  been 
approved  by  the  Chambers  every  year  since  the  time  of  the  Broglie  ministry. 
The  same  day  the  Senate  passed  the  clause  of  the  new  school  act  forbidding 
the  employment  of  members  of  religious  orders  as  teachers  in  the  state  schools. 

A  severe  strike  which  lasted  for  half  of  the  year  was  begun  at  Decaze- 
ville,  January  26,  which  involved  the  question  of  the  employment  of  three 
thousand  miners.  The  engineer  in  charge  of  the  mines,  named  Watrin,  was 
killed  by  a  mob  that  contained  one  thousand  persons,  and  the  directors  of  the 
company  appealed  to  the  government  to  protect  their  property.  The  advo- 


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FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


359 


cates  of  the  rights  of  labor  took  up  the  cause  of  the  strikers.  On  the  nth  of 
February  the  Extreme  Left  brought  forward  the  labor  question  in  the 
Chamber,  and  a  Socialist,  by  the  name  of  Basly,  defended  the  murder  of 
Watrin,  and  demanded  that  the  government  should  let  the  accused  persons 
go  free  and  compel  the  company  to  acceed  to  the  demands  of  the  miners. 
As  many  as  188  deputies  voted  for  the  resolution.  M.  Camelinet  introduced 
a  motion  declaring  the  charter  of  the  Decazeville  company  forfeited,  because 
it  had  ceased  operations  in  consequence  of  the  strike.  This  met  with  the 
approval  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Works,  but  as  he  was  unable  to  gain  over 
his  colleagues  to  this  view  the  resolution  was  lost.  This  was  on  March  13, 
and  for  two  days  a  bitter  discussion  went  on,  when  the  government  and  the 
Chamber  agreed  to  an  order  of  the  day  expressing  confidence  that  legislation 
on  the  subject  of  the  mines  would  be  introduced  to  provide  for  the  ameliora¬ 
tion  and  protection  of  the  rights  of  the  laborers  as  well  as  those  of  the  State. 
The  mine  owners  declared  that  rather  than  acceed  to  the  demands  of  the 
men  they  would  close  the  mines.  The  Council  of  Paris  voted  to  aid  the  des¬ 
titute  strikers  with  ten  thousand  francs,  which  action  was  followed  by  other 
cities.  After  some  time  of  inaction  the  government  sent  troops  to  the 
threatened  districts.  Three  laborers  were  convicted  to  short  terms  of  im¬ 
prisonment  March  8,  and  two  journalists,  Roche  and  Duc-Quercy,  who  had 
encouraged  the  strikers,  were  arrested.  They  were  condemned  and  sent  to 
prison  for  fifteen  months.  This  conviction  gained  for  Roche  the  nomination 
for  the  vacancy  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  caused  by  the  resignation  of 
Rochefort.  He  received  100,000  votes.  The  ringleaders  in  the  riots  which 
caused  the  death  of  Watrin  were  condemned  to  long  terms  of  imprisonment. 
A  compromise  between  the  miners  and  the  company  was  effected  June  10, 
1886. 

The  next  difficulty  that  confronted  the  government  was  in  connection 
with  the  bill  for  the  banishment  of  all  members  of  houses  that  had  reigned  in 
France  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Republic.  Orleanist  princesses  had 
married  with  members  of  European  reigning  families  and  the  Count  of  Paris 
had  set  up  a  kind  of  court,  in  consequence  of  which  the  rumor  that  a  revolu¬ 
tionary  government  had  been  set  up  awakened  the  suspicion  of  the  Repub¬ 
licans.  The  marriage  of  the  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Paris  to  the  Crown- 
Prince  of  Portugal  and  the  demonstrations  that  followed  left  no  doubt  that 
the  head  of  the  Bourbons  had  set  up  as  a  pretender.  A  bill  for  the  expulsion 
of  the  princess  passed  the  Senate  June  22,  and  the  Count  of  Paris  awaited 
the  notice  at  his  castle  of  Eu,  where  a  crowd  of  sympathizers,  among  whom 
were  150  deputies,  had  gathered  to  manifest  indignation  and  pay  homage  to 
their  future  King.  A  manifesto  was  published  by  Philip,  Count  of  Paris,  on 
June  24,  the  day  he  departed  from  Chateau  d’Eu,  in  which  he  said,  “  I  have 
confidence  in  France.  At  the  decisive  hour,  I  shall  be  ready.”  On  this 
same  day  Prince  Napoleon  left  for  Geneva,  while  his  son  and  rival,  after  mak¬ 
ing  a  speech  to  ten  thousand  sympathizers,  took  the  train  for  Brussels. 

The  Due  d’Aumale  was  not  included  in  this  act  of  expulsion,  but  his  com- 


360 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1884 


mission  in  the  army  was  cancelled.  He  therefore  wrote  to  President  Grevy 
denying  that  he  had  any  power  to  do  this  and  appealed  to  the  officers  of  the 
army  to  sustain  him.  General  Boulanger,  Minister  of  War,  replied  that  the 
claim  that  officers  could  only  be  cashiered  by  court-martial  did  not  apply  to 
Orleans  princes,  and  Due  d’Aumale  retorted  that  this  sarcasm  came  with  ill 
grace  from  an  officer  who  had  been  indebted  to  him  for  his  promotion.  The 
Minister  of  War  denied  the  indebtedness,  but  letters  were  published  in  the 
Royalist  newspapers  that  expressed  his  gratitude  to  the  Due  d’Aumale  for 
his  patronage  which  General  Boulanger  could  not  deny.  An  angry  letter 
from  the  Due  to  President  Grevy  led  to  his  expulsion  by  special  decree.  In 
October  of  that  year  the  expelled  Due  made  a  gift  of  his  estates  at  Chantilly 
to  the  French  Institute  for  a  museum,  reserving  however  an  annuity  during 
life.  The  gift  including  works  of  art  and  furniture  was  accepted  and  ap¬ 
proved  by  the  Council  of  State.  Several  members  of  the  French  nobility 
who  held  diplomatic  positions  at  the  principal  continental  courts  resigned 
because  of  the  expulsion  of  the  princes. 

Much  distrust  was  awakened  when  a  Radical  like  General  Boulanger  was 
made  Minister  of  War,  but  his  energy  and  practical  sense  as  well  as  the 
brilliant  success  of  the  measures  he  introduced  caused  him  to  be  very  popu¬ 
lar.  He  fought  a  duel  on  July  16  with  Baron  Larienty  because  of  criticism 
in  regard  to  the  letter  to  the  Due  d’Aumale  which  added  to  his  popularity. 

The  bodies  known  as  the  Councils-General  met  in  all  the  departments  on 
August  16.  Of  these  seventy-two  were  with  the  Republicans  and  only 
eleven  with  the  Conservatives.  Jules  Ferry  delivered  a  speech  in  the 
Council-General  of  the  Vosges  department  appealing  to  the  Royalists  to 
abandon  their  false  hope  and  take  an  active  part  in  the  politics  of  the  Re¬ 
public.  The  Radicals  regarded  the  proposition  as  treason,  but  the  Orleanist 
papers  promised  Ferry  a  truce  if  his  party  would  bring  about  a  return  of  the 
expelled  princes.  They  with  the  Bonapartists  carried  on  a  vigorous  cam¬ 
paign  in  the  August  elections  in  which  they  gained  seven  seats.  The  relation 
of  the  Councils-General  to  the  national  politics  is  remote  and  of  importance 
only  in  case  of  revolution  or  the  illegal  dissolution  of  the  Chambers.  A 
ministerial  crisis  arose  in  October  because  of  the  attitude  of  the  government 
towards  a  serious  labor  strike  at  Vierzon  where  the  gendarmes  were  called  out 
to  quell  the  disturbance.  A  Socialist  by  the  name  of  Baudin  was  arrested  for 
leading  the  strikers.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Council-General  for  the  de¬ 
partment.  October  5,  when  the  workmen  who  were  wishing  to  work  were 
returning  from  the  factories,  they  were  beset  by  a  mob  of  4,000  men  and 
women.  The  gendarmes  who  protected  the  non-strikers  were  attacked  [and 
the  mob  was  charged  upon  by  a  squadron  of  dragoons,  and  many  were 
wounded.  When  the  ministry  was  attacked  in  strong  language  for  its  policy, 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  M.  Sarrien,  demanded  a  vote  of  approval  which 
was  denied.  Whereupon  he  and  five  others  sent  in  their  resignations. 
October  19,  the  Radicals  declared  that  the  situation  arose  from  a  misunder¬ 
standing  and  the  ministers  retained  their  portfolios.  The  cabinet  went  out 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


361 

of  office  however  in  December  on  account  of  the  want  of  agreement  between 
the  Minister  of  Finance  in  relation  to  the  imposition  of  increased  taxes  to 
make  up  the  large  demands  of  the  annual  budgets.  The  opposition  de¬ 
manded  the  abolition  of  certain  useless  offices  and  economy  in  expenditures. 
The  proposition  to  abolish  360  sub-prefects  was  carried  against  the  govern¬ 
ment  on  December  3,  and  the  same  evening  the  ministers  sent  in  their  reigna- 
tions.  On  December  8  a  new  cabinet  was  formed  with  M.  Goblet  as  Prime 
Minister,  in  which  General  Boulanger  and  three  others  of  the  former  cabinet 
were  retained.  The  budget  could  not  be  completed  before  the  expiration  of 
the  session  of  the  Chambers  and  the  cabinet  voted  two  months’  expenditures 
on  account. 

The  Goblet  ministry  was  lacking  in  elements  of  strength  and  the  pro¬ 
gramme  for  the  raising  of  revenue  which  it  presented  did  not  meet  the  approval 
of  the  Chambers.  The  question  of  its  displacement  gave  rise  to  much  anxiety 
on  account  of  the  military  situation.  General  Boulanger  had  prepared  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  army  and  had  constructed  barracks  on  the 
German  frontier  where  he  proposed  to  mobilize  the  army.  This  had  been 
followed  by  the  alarming  speech  of  Prince  Bismarck  in  the  German  Reichstag 
and  the  increase  of  the  army.  The  authorities  of  Germany  had  forbidden  the 
export  of  horses,  called  out  reserves  and  had  commenced  preparations  on 
the  French  frontier  that  looked  toward  an  invasion  in  the  Spring.  To  abandon 
the  policy  of  the  Minister  of  War,  or  to  remove  him  from  office  would  ap¬ 
pear  to  indicate  fear.  The  minds  of  statesmen  were  perplexed,  as  indicated 
by  the  vote  taken  May  17,  1887,  but  the  government  was  overthrown  by  a 
combination  of  the  Reactionists,  Republicans  and  58  Moderates  led  by  M. 
Ferry.  A  new  ministry  was  constituted  May  30  by  M.  Rouvier  as  President 
and  “All  Republicans,  all  patriots”  were  urged  to  help  in  the  work  of  recon¬ 
ciliation.  The  Extremists  who  were  left  without  representation  in  his  cabi- 

9 

net  demanded  of  M.  Rouvier  if  he  intended  to  govern  with  a  Republican 
majority.  This  he  affirmed  and  on  a  motion  of  want  of  confidence  he  re¬ 
ceived  a  majority  of  285  against  139  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

The  military  organization  bill  which  had  been'  prepared  by  General 
Boulanger  was  taken  up  by  the  new  cabinet  and  in  consequence  General 
Saussier,  commandant  of  Paris,  who  insisted  upon  its  withdrawal,  was  succeeded 
by  General  Ferron  as  Minister  of  War.  The  debate  began  June  5  but  in  July 
the  measure  was  abandoned  by  its  friends,  and  the  Chambers  adjourned  July 
23  almost  barren  of  any  legislative  results. 

Upon  retiring  from  office  as  Minister  of  War,  General  Boulanger  had 
issued  a  farewell  order  to  the  troops  contrary  to  precedent,  which  closed  with 
the  words:  “  I  shall  be  the  first  to  set  you  the  example  of  two-fold  discipline, 
at  once  military  and  republican.”  A  grand  military  festival  which  he  declined 
to  attend  was  arranged  for  the  retiring  minister  on  May  31.  Crowds  gathered 
around  the  Opera,  cheered  for  Boulanger  and  marched  to  the  Ministry  of  War 
clamoring  for  his  return.  Troops  appeared  and  drove  the  shouting  and  sing¬ 
ing  mob  from  the  square.  The  general  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 


362 


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[1884 


Clermont-Ferrand  Army  Corps  and  upon  his  departure  for  his  new  post  re¬ 
ceived  a  noisy  demonstration  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  at  the  station  in  Lyons 
and  in  the  towns  along  his  route.  The  Rouvier  cabinet  was  charged  with 
being  under  foreign  pressure  in  the  Chambers  and  this  remark  caused  such 
an  uproar  that  the  Speaker  tendered  his  resignation,  which  however  was  not 
accepted.  There  was  intense  ill  feeling  between  Germany  and  France  on 
account  of  the  military  and  political  situation  which  led  to  the  expulsion  of  a 
large  number  of  citizens  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  among  whom  was  a  deputy  in  the 
German  Reichstag  named  Antoine.  A  German  officer  decoyed  a  French 
functionary  to  the  frontier  and  caused  his  arrest.  Proof  was  adduced  in  mili¬ 
tary  trials  that  General  Boulanger  had  prepared  an  elaborate  system  of  military 
intelligence  that  necessitated  the  service  of  paid  agents  in  Germany.  An 
official  in  the  French  war  office  was  detected  in  giving  up  documents  to  an 
attache  of  the  German  legation.  Arrest  of  all  alleged  spies  was  made  and  the 
feeling  was  so  intense  that  persons  from  Germany  were  not  safe  anywhere  in 
France.  After  the  retirement  of  General  Boulanger  the  excitement  gradually 
subsided. 

After  considerable  diplomatic  correspondence  the  mobilization  of  the 
French  army  which  the  former  Minister  of  War  had  arranged  to  take  place  on 
the  German  frontier  was  changed  to  the  frontier  of  Spain.  The  bills  for  this 
mobilization  were  issued  on  August  17  and  the  troops  were  concentrated  in 
from  two  to  six  days  and  for  ten  days  carried  on  their  evolutions  and  manoeuvres 
ending  with  a  march  to  the  border  to  repel  a  putative  invader.  A  scandal 
involving  the  names  of  two  French  generals  in  connection  with  the  sale  of 
decorations  of  honor  caused  the  trial  and  conviction  of  General  Caffarel 
on  the  charge  of  dishonorable  conduct  and  he  was  placed  on  the  retired  list 
at  half  pay.  The  other  general,  the  Comte  d’Andlan,  senator  and  a  man  of 
considerable  military  and  literary  ability,  fled  from  the  country  and  was  sen¬ 
tenced  in  contumaciam.  General  Boulanger  charged  the  new  Minister  of 
War  with  pushing  the  investigation  of  General  Caffarel  with  the  intention  of 
involving  him  in  the  scandal.  General  Farron  thereupon  ordered  General 
Boulanger  to  hold  himself  in  close  confinement  at  his  own  house  for  thirty 
days. 

M.  Wilson,  the  son-in-law  of  the  President,  M.  Grevy,  was  also  in¬ 
volved  in  the  scandal  connected  with  the  sale  of  decorations  and  another 
affecting  the  detective  bureau.  He  was  accused  of  making  use  of  his  official 
position  to  gain  millions  on  the  Bourse.  Popular  suspicion  began  to  extend 
to  his  father-in-law,  the  President,  with  whom  he  lived,  and  when  M.  Wilson 
appeared  before  an  assembly  of  his  constituents  to  answer  for  his  actions  as 
deputy,  he  was  asked  to  resign.  A  committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  be¬ 
gan  an  investigation  into  his  official  conduct.  Among  the  other  delinquen¬ 
cies  charged  against  him,  was  that  of  using  the  official  stamp  of  the  Elyseesto 
forward  his  private  letters  and  effects  through  the  mail.  He  confessed  to 
this  charge  and  restored  40,000  francs  to  the  postal  authorities  which  he  had 
thus  withheld.  During  the  pending  investigation  two  letters  which  M. 


M.  JULES  GREVY. 

Page  362. 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


3^ 


Wilson  had  written,  in  which  were  sentences  compromising  M.  Grevy,  were 
missing.  The  prefect  of  police,  M.  Gragnon  had  taken  them  to  the  President, 
who  threw  them  into  the  fire  and  ordered  his  son-in-law  to  rewrite  them, 
omitting  the  offensive  sentences.  The  original  letters  had  been  written  in 
1884  but  the  transcripts  were  written  upon  paper  bearing  a  water-mark  which 
had  not  been  used  until  1885.  The  trial  of  M.  Wilson  and  the  police  officials 
occurred  in  December,  1887,  but  the  accused  were  judged  not  guilty  upon 
technical  points  solely.  Popular  opinion  was  aroused  to  such  an  extent  by 
the  discovery  of  the  suppression  and  falsification  of  judicial  evidence  that 
M.  Gragnon  was  dismissed  from  office  and  the  Minister  of  Justice  resigned, 
but  M.  Wilson  refused  to  resign  as  deputy  in  order  that  he  might  be  brought 
to  criminal  trial.  A  motion  was  made,  that  his  immunity  as  a  deputy  be 
waived  and  M.  Grevy  threatened  to  resign  as  President  if  the  vote  to  prose¬ 
cute  his  son-in-law  should  pass.  The  vote  was  taken  November  17  and  unan¬ 
imously  carried.  November  20  a  vote  directed  against  the  President  of  328  to 
242  caused  the  resignation  of  the  cabinet.  M.  Grevy  declared  that  he 
would  not  yield  to  an  unconstitutional  agitation  or  to  legislative  pressure. 
He  made  several  ineffectual  attempts  to  form  a  cabinet,  but  every  one  to 
whom  he  appealed  declined  to  attempt  the  task,  and  November  23  announced 
his  intention  to  resign.  He  recalled  M.  Rouvier  and  the  former  cabinet, 
who  consented  to  hold  office  only  long  enough  to  deliver  his  letter  of  resig¬ 
nation.  November  26,  he  authorized  M.  Rouvier  to  announce  his  retire¬ 
ment,  but  the  same  afternoon  recalled  the  note.  He  then  authorized  the 
Prime  Minister  to  request  the  Chambers  not  to  meet  until  December  1,  when 
he  would  communicate  with  them.  Excitement  in  Paris  ran  very  high  and 
many  feared  a  coup  d' etat  would  lead  to  a  revolution.  The  Chambers  met 
December  1,  to  hear  the  promised  message  and  M.  Grevy  informed  the  min¬ 
isters  that  in  view  of  the  danger  of  insurrection  and  the  popular  demand 
from  all  parts  of  France  he  should  not  retire.  The  ministry  resigned  and 
the  Chambers  adjourned  for  two  hours.  They  met  and  again  adjourned  in 
expectancy  of  the  communication  promised  it.  The  next  day,  December  2, 
1887,  M.  Grevy  resigned  and  a  congress  to  elect  a  new  President  was  sum¬ 
moned  to  meet  December  3.  There  was  much  rioting  in  the  streets  of  Paris 
but  the  mobs  were  checked  and  finally  put  to  flight  by  the  vigilant  troops. 
The  Municipal  Council  met  in  the  evening  and  passed  a  resolution  against 
the  election  of  M.  Ferry.  The  friends  of  this  gentleman  had  hoped  to  elect 
him  but  he  withdrew  as  did  also  M.  de  Freycinet  in  favor  of  M.  Sadi-Carnot, 
who  was  elected  by  616  votes  against  210  cast  for  other  candidates. 

The  Rouvier  cabinet  again  handed  in  their  resignations,  this  time  to  the 
new  President,  and  he  had  great  difficulty  in  forming  one,  but  finally  an  Op¬ 
portunist  cabinet  was  constituted  with  M.  Tirard  as  Prime  Minister.  In 
President  Carnot’s  inaugural,  read  to  the  Chambers  December  13,  he  de¬ 
clares  himself  to  be  “  one  of  the  most  modest  servants  of  F ranee  ”  and  ap¬ 
peals  to  the  deputies  to  sustain  his  policy  of  progress,  reconciliation  and  con¬ 
cord.  There  had  been  an  attempt,  by  a  desperate  man  seeking  notoriety,  on 


364 


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[1884 

the  life  of  M.  Ferry,  but  he  escaped  with  only  a  slight  wound  from  a  revolver 
shot,  December  10.  The  old  fear  of  a  Paris  Commune  and  Central  majority 
had  been  the  controling  motive  in  the  formation  of  the  Tirard  cabinet. 

There  was  fighting  during  the  year  1887  in  Tonquin.  The  French  had 
been  unsuccessful  in  two  attempts  in  January  to  dislodge  the  rebel  force 
from  Than  Hoa,  but  a  few  weeks  later  Colonel  Brissaud  captured  a  force  in 
that  district  and  by  June  the  rebels  had  been  driven  into  the  remote  dis¬ 
tricts.  The  delimination  of  the  line  between  China  and  Tonquin  had  been 
completed  by  that  time.  A  ministerial  decree  was  issued  in  August  fixing 
the  tariff  duties  for  Cochin-China,  Cambodia,  Annam  and  Tonquin.  In 
Africa  the  French  had  made  treaties  with  the  chiefs  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Badiboo  district.  The  British  officers  at  Lagos  led  a  force  into  this  tract  in 
April,  1887,  and  placed  a  chief  friendly  to  them  in  authority,  whereupon  the 
French  repelled  him  and  reinstated  their  own  favorite,  and  raised  the  flag  of 
the  Republic.  The  British  advanced  from  Lagos,  pulled  down  the  French 
ensign  and  raised  their  own.  Both  governments  then  sent  gunboats  and 
higher  officials  into  the  country  and  began  diplomatic  correspondence  over 
the  subject.  Sir  Samuel  Rowe,  Governor  of  the  British  West  African  settle¬ 
ments,  hoisted  the  English  flag  at  several  points  on  the  Gambia  River,  but  the 
French  practically  held  possession  of  the  country.  A  convention  was  con¬ 
cluded  between  France  and  the  Congo  Free  State  in  April,  1887,  which 
changed  the  original  boundaries  in  favor  of  the  former.  Agreements  were 
entered  into  between  England  and  France  deciding  upon  a  line  beyond 
which  each  should  not  operate  against  the  other  on  the  Somali  coast. 

The  Tirard  cabinet  continued  in  power  until  March  30,  1888,  when  an 
adverse  vote  in  favor  of  a  revision  of  the  Constitution  was  taken.  The  motion 
which  led  to  the  overthrow  was  made  by  M.  Laguerre,  leader  of  the  faction  of 
General  Boulanger,  which  controlled  only  thirteen  deputies.  But  Royalists 
and  Bonapartists  united  with  the  faction  led  by  M.  Clemenceau,  the  cousin 
of  Boulanger,  who  was  now  his  opponent,  supported  the  motion  and  it  was  car¬ 
ried  by  a  vote  of  268  to  234.  These  differing  factions  were  committed  to  the 
revision  of  the  Constitution  from  their  several  standpoints  and  thus  united 
on  the  vote.  The  President  of  the  Chamber,  M.  Floquet,  was  invited  to 
form  a  cabinet  and  completed  his  list  on  April  3.  The  Premier  had  pre¬ 
sided  over  the  Chamber  with  much  dignity  and  perfect  impartiality,  rebuking 
the  Radicals  who  had  wished  to  oppress  their  colleagues  when  they  moved 
to  hold  a  session  on  Good  Friday,  and  openly  condemning  the  vote  in  favor  of 
revision.  “  Republican  concentration  ”  was  the  watchword  of  the  new  gov¬ 
ernment  and  they  asked  in  regard  to  the  proposed  revision  of  the  Constitution 
to  be  intrusted  with  the  duty  of  indicating  the  propititious  time  to  begin  a 
work  of  such  importance  which  was  destined  to  place  the  political  organiza¬ 
tion  in  complete  harmony  with  republican  principles.  In  the  first  ballot  for 
a  President  of  the  Chamber  to  succeed  M.  Floquet  there  was  no  election. 
In  the  second  there  was  a  tie  vote  between  M.M.  Meline  and  Clemenceau 
giving  the  election  to  the  first  by  seniority  in  age. 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


365 


After  the  Easter  recess  the  Premier  informed  the  Chamber  that  the 
cabinet  desired  strength  to  deal  with  pretenders,  whether  draping  themselves 
in  the  flag  or  speaking  in  plebiscitary  enigmas.  He  was  challenged  to  say 
whether  revision  was  indefinitely  postponed  and  replied,  asking  the  Chamber 
to  wait  until  the  demand  for  revision  ceased  to  be  a  cloak  for  conspiring  dicta¬ 
tors  or  a  Royalist  snare.  The  order  of  the  day  was  then  carried  by  a  vote  of 
379  to  1 77.  The  government  was  censured  by  the  Senate  for  not  dismissing 
the  mairie  of  Carcassonne  who  had  been  convicted  of  an  election  fraud  that 
was  intended  not  to  alter  the  result  but  to  obviate  a  second  ballot.  On 
appeal  to  the  Chamber  a  vote  of  confidence  was  passed  by  326  to  173. 
Charges  against  the  monks  of  a  reformatory  at  Citeaux  led  to  the  passage  of 
a  bill  to  suppress  all  male  religious  orders,  which  the  Senate  defeated.  The 
army  bill  which  had  been  up  for  many  years  obliging  universal  military  ser¬ 
vice  was  finally  passed  at  this  session. 

General  Boulanger  had  been  presented  as  a  candidate  for  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  in  four  departments  while  he  was  in  military  service,  and  the  Minis¬ 
ter  of  War  sought  an  interview  with  him  and  after  receiving  his  positive 
denial  that  he  had  personally  taken  any  part  in  the  election,  ordered  him  to 
return  to  Clermont  and  take  care  that  his  friends  should  not  use  his  name 
improperly.  He  soon  broke  his  parole  and  was  found  in  Paris  by  an  army 
officer.  He  was  relieved  of  his  command  and  brought  before  a  court-martial 
consisting  of  five  generals,  March  26,  1888.  This  was  the  occasion  of  demon¬ 
strations  for  and  against  him  and  while  his  trial  was  pending  he  was  elected 
deputy  from  Aisne,  but  as  he  was  ineligible  he  withdrew  in  favor  of  one  of 
his  partizans.  At  the  trial  he  claimed  that  he  came  to  Paris  to  visit  his  sick 
wife  and  again  denied  that  he  had  personally  taken  part  in  the  election  can¬ 
vass.  He  was  confronted  with  telegrams  in  cipher  which  he  had  sent  out,  and 
could  answer  nothing.  The  court-martial  unanimously  condemned  him  and 
he  was  placed  on  the  retired  list.  He  could  now  openly  take  the  field  as  a 
candidate  for  the  department  of  Nord.  All  the  enemies  of  the  third  republic 
supported  him  and  he  was  intensely  popular  because  of  the  reforms  he  had 
instituted  when  Minister  of  War.  The  common  soldiers  and  the  peasantry 
regarded  him  as  the  creator  of  the  army  and  looked  forward  to  the  time  when 
it  would  be  able  to  avenge  the  disaster  of  Sedan.  He  called  himself  a  demo¬ 
cratic  Republican,  although  his  friends  and  backers  were  Bonapartists.  He 
hinted  at  a  revision  of  the  Constitution  on  the  model  of  that  of  the  United 
States,  in  which  the  president  should  be  elected  by  the  people  and  the  cabinet 
should  be  responsible  to  him  and  not  to  parliament.  He  was  elected  in  the 
Nord  by  a  majority  of  100,000,  and  also  in  the  Dardogne  but  took  his  seat  as 
a  deputy  from  the  Nord  department,  June  4.  He  brought  forward  a  motion 
for  the  dissolution  of  the  Chamber,  July  12,  denouncing  the  existing  Cham¬ 
ber  and  the  government.  The  Premier  replied  in  caustic  terms  and  referred 
to  him  as  a  frequenter  of  vestibules  who  passed  into  antechambers.  Boulan¬ 
ger  retorted  that  M.  P'loquet  had  “impudently  lied  ”  and  placed  his  resigna¬ 
tion  in  the  hands  of  the  Speaker.  A  duel  with  swords  followed  in  which 


366 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1884 


General  Boulanger  was  wounded.  This  caused  the  soldier  much  humiliation 
because  his  antagonist  had  the  reputation  of  being  unskilled  in  its  use.  On 
August  19,  he  was  a  candidate  for  election  in  three  departments,  in  all  of 
which  he  was  elected.  After  this  political  triumph  he  traveled  incognito 
throughout  Europe,  while  the  whole  continent  was  alarmed  at  the  situation. 
But  on  October  24,  he  appeared  before  the  Committee  of  Revision,  having 
two  days  before  taken  his  seat  in  the  Chamber  as  deputy  for  Somme.  There 
was  at  once  a  renewal  of  disquieting  popular  agitation  and  many  collisions 
took  place  between  Boulangists  and  anti-Boulangists.  In  October  the  police 
were  ordered  to  seize  pictures  representiug  him  driving  out  the  deputies  as 
they  were  sold  in  the  street,  also  portraits  in  uniform  of  the  Comte  de 
Paris  and  Prince  Victor  Bonaparte. 

The  entire  summer  of  1888  was  one  of  unrest  and  agitation  because  of 
labor  strikes  of  wide  extent.  These  were  largely  instigated  by  revolutionist 
leaders.  They  began  at  the  celebration  of  the  Communist  insurrection  May 
27.  As  a  wreath  was  being  deposited  at  the  foot  of  the  wall  where  the  Com¬ 
munists  were  shot  down  by  the  Versailles  troops  an  Anarchist  named  Lucus 
fired  a  shot  at  Rovellan  who  bore  the  wreath  and  wounded  two  Blanquists  in 
the  crowd.  A  fight  ensued  which  was  quelled  by  the  police.  July  25 
there  was  a  strike  in  the  building  trades  of  Paris  which  was  begun  by  the 
workmen  of  the  exhibition  grounds  at  the  Champs  de  Mars.  By  the  31st 
there  had  9,812  names  of  strikers  been  enrolled  at  the  Syndical  chamber. 
The  cutters  joined  the  strike  in  August.  The  government  announced  that 
no  interference  would  be  permitted  with  the  combination  of  strikers  nor 
intimidation  of  laborers  who  desired  to  work.  The  agitation  spread  to  the 
provinces.  Disturbances  accompanied  with  violence  occurred  at  Amiens  and 
at  Calais.  The  funeral  of  General  Eudes,  which  was  to  occur  August  8,  gave 
rise  to  two  serious  conflicts  with  the  police,  in  which  not  only  many  Anarchist 
leaders  but  also  spectators,  even  women  and  children,  were  wounded  by  the 
swords  of  the  officers.  The  procession  was  to  start  from  the  Bourse  de  Tra¬ 
vail,  the  rallying  place  of  the  strikers,  but  the  government  sent  troops  to  close 
the  hall  and  stop  all  the  approaches.  The  joiners  and  cabinet-makers  struck 
in  sympathy  August  13  and  the  workmen  on  the  Eiffel  tower  also  left  work 
and  did  not  resume  until  their  demands  were  granted.  A  desperate  fight 
with  the  police  and  the  strikers  took  place  at  the  coal  mines  of  Treuiel  on 
September  26. 

The  foreign  relations  of  the  republic  were  somewhat  strained  during  the 
year  1888.  The  regulation  adopted  by  the  German  government  in  regard  to 
foreigners  passing  the  French  frontier  into  Alsace-Lorraine  required  that 
the  passports  should  have  the  vise  of  the  German  embassy  in  Paris.  This 
proved  a  great  annoyance  to  travelers  of  all  nationalities  who  entered  Ger¬ 
many  by  that  route,  many  of  whom  were  stopped.  Some  of  the  German 
travelers  were  roughly  treated  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  French  border  dis¬ 
tricts,  which  led  to  an  attack  by  the  German  official  press  denouncing  France 
as  a  “  savage  country,”  and  calling  upon  other  nations  to  treat  her  as  an  un- 


1896] 


FRANCE— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


3  6/ 


civilized  country.  Two  French  correspondents  were  expelled  from  Berlin 
for  writing  to  Paris  matter  that  was  insulting  to  high  officials  July  20.  This 
gave  rise  to  diplomatic  correspondence  between  the  two  governments  and 
popular  feeling  ran  high  upon  both  sides.  The  occupation  of  Tunis  by  the 
French  had  awakened  the  jealousy  of  Italy,  and  when  the  Triple  Alliance 
between  Italy,  Austria  and  Germany  was  made  public,  the  sensitiveness  oc¬ 
casioned  by  the  negotiations  for  a  commercial  treaty  between  France  and 
Italy  prevented  a  satisfactory  conclusion  and  they  were  suspended  from  Jan¬ 
uary  until  June.  Before  the  negotiations  were  resumed  another  conflict  with 
Italy  arose  over  the  question  of  taxes  in  the  town  of  Massowah  in  Abyssinia 
which  had  been  occupied  by  the  Italian  troops.  The  military  governor  had 
imposed  a  tax  on  traders  and  land  proprietors  on  May  30  and  followed  this 
with  a  license  tax  on  liquors  and  food  on  June  1.  French  merchants  on  ad¬ 
vice  of  their  government  had  refused  to  pay  these  taxes.  Bitter  correspond¬ 
ence  followed  and  Italy  appeared  to  be  technically  in  the  wrong,  but  the 
discussion  gave  Turkey  a  chance  to  renew  the  claim  of  suzerainty  over  the 
western  coast  of  the  Red  Sea.  Russia  joined  with  France  in  the  protest  of 
the  Porte.  The  affairs  of  the  Panama  Canal  Company  reached  a  desperate 
crisis  in  December  of  this  year.  M.  de  Lesseps  had  expended  1,400,000,000 
francs  upon  this  gigantic  work  and  after  repeated  appeals  the  French  cham¬ 
ber  authorized  a  lottery  loan  June  8,  which  had  failed  to  realize  the  expecta¬ 
tions  of  the  projectors  and  the  company  was  obliged  to  suspend  payments. 
The  chamber  refused  to  permit  this  suspension  for  three  months  and  M.  de 
Lesseps  and  his  associates  resigned  from  the  administration  of  the  company 
and  the  tribunal  of  the  Seine  appointed  judicial  liquidators  December  14. 

TARIFF,  ANARCHISTS  AND  MELINITE. 

A  new  tariff  system  was  inaugurated  and  the  former  treaties  with  Bel¬ 
gium,  Spain,  Switzerland,  Sweden,  Norway,  Portugal,  and  the  Netherlands, 
running  to  February,  1892,  were  denounced  in  order  that  these  nations  might 
enjoy  the  same  rights  as  the  countries  under  the  most  favored  nation  clause. 
England,  Germany,  Denmark,  Russia  and  Austria,  all  had  such  a  clause  in 
their  treaties  with  France.  The  United  States  was  not  included  in  this  list, 
therefore  a  separate  and  special  treaty  had  to  be  negotiated.  This  was 
opened  by  France  demanding  the  application  of  the  reciprocity  clause  of  the 
American  Tariff  Act  and  offering  that  skins,  sugar  and  molasses  to  the  value 
of  100,000  francs  per  annum  be  admitted  free  into  the  United  States,  and  in 
return  American  products  of  the  same  value  be  admitted  free  into  France. 

A  council  of  labor  was  held  in  Paris,  February  18,  1891,  at  which  the  Min¬ 
ister  of  Commerce,  Jules  Roche,  presided.  It  recommended  that  a  Bureau 
of  Labor  be  constituted,  modeled  after  that  of  the  United  States.  This 
recommendation  was  approved  by  the  cabinet. 

Great  precaution  had  been  taken  throughout  France  to  prevent  serious 
outbreaks  of  the  anarchists  on  May  1.  Cavalry  patrolled  the  streets  of  Paris 
and  300  anarchists  who  had  been  arrested  the  day  before  were  detained  as 


368 


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[1884 


suspected  persons.  Cunningham  Graham,  a  socialistic  member  of  the  British 
Parliament,  attempted  to  lead  a  demonstration  but  was  arrested.  In  Lyons 
the  people  resisted  the  police  and  stoned  the  cavalry,  but  were  finally  dis¬ 
persed.  In  Marseilles  a  squadron  of  horse  charged  upon  the  crowd  and  broke 
up  the  demonstration  in  progress.  Many  arrests  were  made,  among  which  was 
that  of  Deputy  Antide  Boyer.  At  Fourmies  there  was  a  strike  of  the  miners, 
one  half  of  whom  left  work,  and  a  mob  of  1,200,  armed  with  sticks,  attempted 
to  release  some  of  their  companions  who  had  been  arrested  in  the  morning 
for  interfering  with  those  who  were  willing  to  work.  The  troops  charged 
with  fixed  bayonets  and  an  entire  regiment  had  to  be  called  upon  to  quell  the 
disturbance.  Fourteen  persons  were  killed  and  forty  were  wounded.  Fresh 
strikes  followed  at  Lyons,  Bordeaux,  Charlerille,  and  other  places.  The 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  refused  to  investigate 
the  Fourmies  affair  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  an  insult  to  the  army. 
The  government  seemed  to  have  adopted  a  new  policy  upon  the  question  ; 
for  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  a  bill  to  regulate  the  labor  of  women  and 
children  in  factories  was  introduced  into  the  chambers,  and  ten  hours  was 
made  the  maximum  length  of  a  day’s  work.  But  to  fix  upon  Sunday  as  a 
legal  rest  day  was  rejected.  The  twelve-hour  law  of  1848  was  extended  to 
railroad  firemen,  engineers,  and  signal-men,  to  employees  on  all  omnibus  and 
transportation  lines  chartered  by  state  or  municipality.  Gerville  Reache,  a 
Deputy  for  Guadeloupe,  charged  the  Minister  of  Marine  with  delivering 
melenite,  or  smokeless  powder,  to  the  Armstrong  Company  of  England.  M. 
Turpin,  one  of  the  inventors  of  picric  acid,  a  base  of  melenite,  and  M.  Tri- 
pone,  captain  in  the  territorial  army,  were  arrested  on  the  charge  of  treason 
in  selling  the  secret  of  the  composition  of  this  destructive  to  a  foreign  firm. 
France  had  previously  paid  M.  Turpin  251, OCX)  francs  for  the  secret  of  manu¬ 
facturing  picric  acid  and  he  was  not  to  divulge  it  to  anyone.  M.  Tripone, 
who  had  acted  as  agent  for  the  Armstrong  Company,  obtained  some  real 
melenite  and  contracted  with  the  firm  to  teach  the  process  of  manufacture. 
M.  Fasselar,  an  officer,  and  M.  Feuvier,  an  engineer,  were  implicated  with 
him.  Turpin  pretended  penitence  and  said  that  he  had  refused  the  offer  oi 
750,000  francs  from  Germany  and  Italy  for  the  secret.  He  had  only  told  the 
Armstrong  Company  the  process  of  making  picric  acid  and  he  had  accused 
Captain  Tripone  in  1889  and  again  in  1890,  but  could  not  sustain  his  charges 
by  evidence.  M.  Turpin  published  a  book  giving  the  secret,  and  although  he 
was  arrested  under  the  Spies  Act,  M.  de  Freycinet  denied  that  this  was  the  real 
melenite.  A  vote  of  confidence  sustained  the  ministry  by  338  to  137.  The 
four  culprits  were  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  fine,  imprisonment  and 
loss  of  civic  rights  for  five  years.  Captain  Tripone  in  addition  to  this  was 
exiled  for  ten  years. 

Cardinal  Lavigerie  proposed  the  abandonment  of  the  Royalist’s  party  and 
the  formation  of  a  Christian  and  conservative  party  within  the  republic  and 
Pope  Leo  XIII.  declared  in  an  encyclical  that  the  Holy  See  made  no  pre¬ 
tense  to  interfere  with  political  systems.  The  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Paris 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


369 


issued  a  letter  to  the  French  clergy  in  conformity  with  the  letter  of  the  Pope. 
This  gave  rise  to  a  stormy  scene  in  the  Senate.  The  connection  of  General 
Boulanger  in  a  plot  for  the  restoration  of  the  Orleanists  was  proved  and  his 
suicide  immediately  followed. 

FOREIGN  RELATIONS  AND  LEGISLATION. 

The  foreign  relations  of  the  republic  received  a  strain  during  the  year. 
The  Empress  Dowager  Friedrich  of  Germany  visited  Paris  incognito  for  the 
purpose  of  settling  an  estate,  and,  while  there,  privately  made  overtures  to  cer¬ 
tain  French  artists  to  take  part  in  an  international  Art  Exhibition  at  Berlin. 
Some  of  the  artists  accepted  and  others  published  their  declination  on 
patriotic  grounds.  The  President  of  the  French  republic  could  not  call  upon 
the  Empress  Dowager  because  she  had  come  incognito,  but  when  she  visited 
St.  Cloud  and  Versailles  certain  patriotic  demonstrations  by  the  populace 
caused  her  to  hastily  leave  for  England.  The  German  Emperor  was  highly 
incensed  at  this  affront  to  his  mother  and  retorted  by  rescinding  the  relaxation 
upon  the  passport  system  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  He,  however,  quickly  re¬ 
trieved  his  mistake  and  permitted  the  through  trains  on  the  railroads  to  pass 
without  annoyance.  July  16,  1891,  M.  Laur  proposed  a  baseless  question  in 
the  Chamber,  which  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  286-203,  but  the  very  next 
day  M.  de  Freycinet  demanded  and  received  a  vote  of  confidence,  319  to  103. 
J uly  23,  the  French  fleet  visited  Cronstadt  and  were  so  cordially  received  by  the 
Russian  officers  that  there  arose  the  rumor  of  an  alliance  between  Russia  and 
France.  But  the  invitation  of  Queen  Victoria  for  the  French  fleet  to  visit 
Portsmouth  on  returning  from  Russia  was  accepted.  The  speech  of  the 
German  Emperor  to  his  officers  in  which  he  referred  to  the  first  Napoleon  as 
“  a  Corsician  parvenu  ”  caused  an  outbreak  of  popular  feeling,  and  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  Wagner’s  “  Lohengrin  ”  was  made  the  occasion  of  anti-German  demon¬ 
strations,  but  the  excitement  soon  subsided. 

The  high  protective  tariff  bill  was  finally  passed  January  7,  1892,  by  a 
vote  of  394  to  114,  and  on  the  nth  the  session  closed.  The  new  session  by 
the  amended  Constitution  met  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  January,  the  12th. 
M.  Floquet  was  re-elected  President  of  the  Chamber,  and  M.  Royer  of  the 
Senate.  On  January  17  a  bill  on  associations,  the  principal  features  of  which 
were  restrictions  upon  religious  associations,  was  introduced.  Such  associa¬ 
tions  as  are  contrary  to  law,  morality  or  public  order,  were  to  be  suppressed. 
On  January  19  an  interpellation  based  upon  serious  newspaper  attacks  on 
M.  Constans,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  was  rejected.  Owing  to  words 
spoken  in  the  heat  of  debate  the  minister  struck  M.  Laur  a  number  of  blows, 
and  the  President  of  the  Chamber  put  on  his  hat  and  left  the  chair,  thus 
closing  the  session.  A  reluctant  challenge  to  fight  a  duel  was  sent  to  M. 
Constans  by  M.  Laur,  but  it  was  declined  and  the  affair  ended.  February  18 
a  motion  of  urgency  on  the  Associations  bill  was  offered  by  the  Radicals, 
who  feared  that  the  government  intended  to  withdraw  the  measure  because 
of  the  conciliatory  attitude  of  the  Vatican.  M.  de  Freycinet  called  for  a  vote 


3/0 


FRANCE— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1884 

of  confidence.  The  order  of  the  day  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  282  to  210, 
and  M.  de  Freycinet  at  once  announced  the  resignation  of  the  cabinet.  The 
new  cabinet  was  formed  by  M.  Loubet,  February  28,  and  the  ministerial 
declaration  was  read  March  3.  The  defense  of  all  the  republican  laws  was 
put  forth  as  the  primary  object,  and  the  military  bill  was  placed  in  the  first 
rank.  Priority  was  given  in  the  legislative  programme  to  the  labor  bills. 
The  ministry  was  challenged  to  explain  the  negotiations  with  the  Vatican, 
and  M.  Ribot,  Minister  of  War,  declared  that  there  had  been  none,  but  that 
the  pope’s  encyclical  was  spontaneous,  and  that  his  Holiness  had  expressed 
his  intention  to  avoid  political  conflicts.  The  cabinet  was  sustained  by  a 
vote  of  341  to  91.  M.  Ricard,  the  Minister  of  Justice  and  Worship,  applied 
the  laws  against  clerical  activity  in  politics  more  vigorously  than  his  prede¬ 
cessor.  May  3,  1892,  the  pope  published  a  second  encyclical  to  the  French 
cardinals,  in  which  he  declared  that  a  republican  form  of  government  was  as 
divinely  sanctioned  as  a  monarchy. 

ANARCHISTS  AND  THE  PANAMA  SCANDAL. 

The  anarchists  were  especially  active  during  the  year.  There  was  a 
dynamite  explosion  at  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  Paris,  March  1,  in  front  of  a 
house  occupied  by  the  Princess  Sagan,  and  another  on  March  12,  at  the  house 
of  a  judge  who  had  presided  at  the  trial  of  an  anarchist.  On  March  15  there 
was  still  another  at  the  Laban  barracks.  A  bill  was  passed  to  punish  with 
death  any  attempt  to  blow  up  edifices,  dwellings,  bridges,  ships,  boats,  or 
vehicles  of  any  kind.  The  theft  of  an  amount  of  dynamite  at  Soissy-Sous 
Etoiles  was  being  investigated  when,  on  March  16,  a  cartridge  was  exploded 
against  the  door  of  the  president  of  the  criminal  court,  but  the  explosion  of 
dynamite  at  Rue  Clichy  was  the  most  destructive.  This  was  supposed  to  be 
an  attempt  against  the  life  of  M.  Bulot,  the  deputy  public  prosecutor.  Many 
persons  were  injured,  and  the  police  at  once  expelled  all  foreign  anarchists. 
Ravachol,  an  anarchist  ringleader,  avoided  arrest  until  April  25,  when  he  was 
identified  by  a  waiter  in  a  public  restaurant  and  taken  into  custody.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-two  suspected  persons  were  arrested.  This  ringleader, 
Ravachol,  and  another  were  tried  and  convicted  April  27,  and  sent  to  the 
guilotine. 

The  Carmaux  strike  and  the  exaggerated  rumors  in  connection  with  the 
Panama  canal  scandal  led  to  the  speedy  overthrow  of  the  Loubet  ministry. 
The  Chamber  assembled  after  the  summer  recess  on  October  20.  The  Right 
accused  the  cabinet  with  laxity  in  dealing  with  the  strikers,  and  the  Radicals 
accused  them  of  truckling  to  the  employers.  Several  measures  which  were 
introduced  by  the  government  were  voted  down,  but  none  of  them  of 
sufficient  importance  to  warrant  resignation.  The  sudden  death  of  Baron  de 
Reinach  after  the  loss  of  certain  incriminating  documents  led  to  the  rumor  of 
suicide,  although  the  physician  had  given  a  certificate  of  death  from  natural 
causes.  On  November  28  the  Minister  of  Justice  was  asked  why  an  autopsy 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


37i 


had  not  been  ordered.  M.  Brisson  introduced  a  resolution  expressing  regret 
that  the  authorities  had  not  sealed  the  papers  of  Baron  de  Reinach.  At  once 
M.  Loubet  denied  negligence,  and  when  a  vote  of  confidence  was  proposed 
demanded  the  order  of  the  day,  pure  and  simple.  It  was  lost  304  to  219,  and 
at  once  the  resolution  of  M.  Brisson  was  passed  by  393  to  3.  The  cabinet 
promptly  resigned,  and  M.  Brisson  attempted  to  form  one  which  should  sift 
the  Panama  scandal  to  the  bottom,  but  he  was  not  successful.  The  parlia¬ 
mentary  commission  of  which  he  was  president,  continued  their  investiga¬ 
tions  through  the  ministerial  crisis,  but  could  accomplish  little  because  the 
public  prosecutor,  M.  Beauvepaire,  would  not  produce  the  evidence  and 
documents  which  had  come  into  his  possession  against  the  company. 
December  5  a  cabinet  was  formed  by  M.  Ribot,  and  they  decided  to  give  the 
commission  the  evidence  and  the  documents  in  the  case,  whereupon  M. 
Beauvepaire  resigned  his  office.  Many  of  the  checks  of  Baron  Reinach  were 
traced  to  deputies  and  senators,  and  the  fact  came  out  that  on  the  eve  of 
his  death,  M.  Rouvier,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  and  M.  Clemenceau  had  been 
with  him  and  had  endeavored  as  his  friend  to  restrain  and  stop  the  severe 
newspaper  attacks  upon  him.  M.  Rouvier  resigned  his  portfolio,  and  a  post 
mortem  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  Baron  had  died  from  poison.  The  port¬ 
folio  of  finance  was  given  to  Pierre  Emmanuel  Tirard,  who  had  honorably 
held  it  twice  before,  and  once  been  premier.  Charles  de  Lesseps  and  others 
were  arrested  and  committed  without  bail.  One  hundred  and  four  deputies, 
a  number  of  senators  and  ex-ministers  of  state  were  implicated  in  the  charges 
of  bribery.  At  the  judicial  investigation  in  January,  1893,  Charles  de 
Lesseps  made  a  clean  breast  of  his  transactions,  and  claimed  that  he  only  was 
at  fault  and  his  fellow  directors  acted  solely  under  his  direction.  The 
ex-minister,  M.  Rouvier,  in  the  Chamber,  defended  his  part  in  the  affair. 
True  bills  on  the  charge  of  bribery  were  found  against  Charles  de  Lesseps 
and  nine  others.  Two  of  the  implicated  persons  had  previously  died.  The 
trial  for  fraud  of  the  president  of  the  Panama  Company,  the  aged  and 
paralytic  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  and  the  other  directors,  ended  February  9, 
and  they  were  sentenced  to  fine  and  imprisonment.  In  the  case  of  the  aged 
father  the  imprisonment  was  remitted.  He  died  November  7,  1894.  The 
trial  for  bribery  began  March  8,  and  resulted  in  conviction.  Charles  de 
Lesseps  was  sentenced  to  one  year’s  imprisonment,  concurrent  with  the 
former  sentence.  At  the  end  of  1893  the  only  prominent  person  left  in 
prison  as  the  result  of  these  trials  was  M.  Barhaut,  former  Minister  of  Public 
Works.  Two  members  of  the  Ribot  cabinet  were  forced  to  resign  because  of 
the  result  of  the  investigation,  and  a  reconstruction  followed  on  January  12. 
This  cabinet  was  defeated  on  the  budget  question,  and  another  one  was 
gazetted  on  April  4,  with  M.  Dupuy  as  premier.  In  the  report  on  the  Panama 
scandal  M.  Floquet  and  M.  de  Freycinet  were  exonerated,  but  M.  Rouvier 
was  blamed  for  receiving  private  money  for  public  purposes.  The  legal  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  next  Chamber  was  extended  to  May  31,  1898,  in  order  to  have 
the  general  elections  occur  in  the  spring  rather  than  in  the  autumn.  This 


372  FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION.  [1884 

year  the  elections  came  on  August  20,  and  resulted  in  the  disappearance  of 
the  Boulangist  faction  as  a  power  in  politics. 

The  visit  of  the  Russian  fleet  at  Toulon  in  return  for  the  visit  of  the 
French  fleet  in  1891  was  made  the  occasion  for  a  magnificent  demonstration 
of  friendship.  The  Russian  grand  dukes  visited  President  Carnot  at  Nancy 
and  immediately  after  the  arrival  of  the  fleet,  October  13,  he  sent  a  warm  letter 
of  thanks  to  the  Czar  to  which  the  latter  replied  in  formal  phrase.  When 
the  two  ships  which  had  been  dispatched  to  Constantinople  to  bear  the  compli¬ 
ments  of  the  French  navy  to  the  Czar,  then  on  a  visit  to  that  capital,  arrived, 
they  were  received  with  marks  of  great  courtesy.  Chancellor  Caprivi  had 
accepted  the  rumor  of  a  France-Russian  understanding.  The  Nachrichten,  the 
organ  of  Prince  Bismarck  said,  “  the  triple  alliance  as  such  does  not  threaten 
Russia  or  her  policy,  but  as  soon  as  a  suspicion  arises  that  its  influence  is  to 
be  exercised  for  the  defence  of  England’s  anti-Russian  interests,  Russia’s 
resentment  is  aroused.”  The  naval  demonstration  at  Toulon  was  magnificent 
in  the  extreme.  Russian  and  French  flags  were  displayed  entwined  together 
on  land  and  in  the  harbor.  Admiral  Avillan  and  sixty  of  his  officers  visited 
Paris  conducted  by  the  President  of  France  and  the  president  of  the  City 
Council.  They  were  feted  by  the  French  with  balls,  dinners  and  public 
demonstrations  of  esteem.  Returning  to  Toulon  they  witnessed  the  launch¬ 
ing  of  the  war-ship,  Jaurcguiberry  on  October  27  and  then  sailed  away. 

ASSASSINATION  AND  RESIGNATION. 

The  newly  elected  Chamber  met  November  14  and  elected  Casimir- 
Perier  as  its  president.  After  several  ineffectual  attempts  to  constitute  a 
cabinet  M.  Carnot  asked  Casimir-Perier  to  form  one  November  30.  One 
week  later  he  handed  in  his  list  and  entered  upon  office.  This  new  premier 
declared  that  France  was  equally  adverse  to  reaction  and  to  socialism.  The 
socialists  at  once  became  the  dominant  element  in  the  opposition,  but  the 
cabinet  was  sustained  on  all  questions  brought  forward  by  them  until  May  22, 
1894,  when  the  socialists  caused  a  defeat  on  the  passage  of  the  eight  hour 
bill,  and  the  discussion  that  arose  in  that  connection.  The  Minister  cvf  Public 
Works  was  asked  why  he  had  issued  an  order  refusing  to  allow  the  employees 
of  the  railroads  to  attend  the  convention  in  Paris.  It  was  claimed  that  the 
law  protecting  trade  unions  applied  to  the  employees  of  the  state  as  much  as 
to  private  corporations.  The  order  of  the  day,  pure  and  simple,  was  rejected 
by  a  vote  of  265  to  225  and  the  cabinet  resigned.  M.  Dupuy  was  again 
called  upon  and  he  constituted  a  cabinet  May  29.  This  new  cabinet  had 
been  in  office  scarcely  a  month  when  the  President  of  the  Republic  met  his 
death  at  the  hand  of  an  assassin  in  the  streets  of  Lyons.  He  was  attending 
fetes  given  in  his  honor  and  had  dismissed  the  special  guard  furnished  by  the 
police  when  an  Italian  anarchist  named  Santo  sprang  from  the  throng  to  the 
step  of  the  landeau  in  which  M.  Carnot  was  riding  and  fatally  stabbed  him. 
He  died  that  night  and  the  anti-Italian  feeling  ran  so  high  that  workmen  of 
that  nationality  were  not  safe,  especially  in  the  south  of  France.  The  govern- 


FELIX  FAURE. 


1896] 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


373 


ment  assured  the  authorities  at  Rome  that  their  co-patriots'  would  be  pro¬ 
tected  by  the  French  police.  The  excitement  subsided  and  the  assassin  was 
tried,  convicted  and  executed. 

A  hurried  meeting  of  the  National  Assembly  was  called  as  provided  for 
by  the  Constitution  and  three  days  after  the  death  of  President  Carnot,  his 
successor  was  elected  on  the  first  ballot  June  27.  Casimir-Perier  was  thus 
elevated  to  the  highest  office  in  the  nation.  The  cabinet  as  a  matter  of 
form  resigned  and  M.  Dupuy  was  entrusted  with  the  task  of  forming  a  new 
one.  The  president  and  the  cabinet  became  the  center  of  severe  and  con¬ 
tinued  attacks  during  the  summer  and  fall,  and  when  the  chamber  assembled 
in  November  an  investigation  into  alleged  corruption  in  connection  with  the 
management  of  the  railroads  was  demanded.  The  President  was  accused  of 
shielding  certain  personal  friends  who  were  corruptionists.  M.  Dupuy  at 
once  resigned  and  no  one  to  whom  the  President  applied  would  undertake  to 
form  a  cabinet.  Yielding  to  the  pressure  of  his  family  friends  M.  Casimir- 
Perier  resigned  his  office  on  January  15,  1895,  and  January  17,  M.  Felix 
Faure  was  upon  the  second  ballot  in  the  National  Assembly  elected  to  suc¬ 
ceed  him. 

A  NEW  PRESIDENT  AND  SUBSEQUENT  EVENTS. 

On  April  24,  1895,  the  French  government  united  with  Russia  and  Ger¬ 
many  in  a  vigorous  protest  against  the  acquirement  of  territory  in  China  by 
Japan  after  her  victorious  war  with  the  former.  The  French  army  in  Mada¬ 
gascar  under  command  of  General  Ducheane  captured  Antananarivo,  the  capi¬ 
tal  of  that  island,  September  27.  The  Queen  and  her  husband  fled  from  the 
city.  The  ministry  of  M.  Ribot,  which  had  come  into  power  with  the  presi¬ 
dency  of  M.  Faure,  resigned  October  28  and  was  succeeded  by  a  cabinet  led 
by  M.  Bourgeois  December  1,  1895. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1896,  there  arose  a  conflict  between  the  Senate 
and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  over  the  refusal  of  the  former  to  vote  the 
credit  for  Madagascar  which  had  passed  the  Chamber.  This  forced  the  resig¬ 
nation  of  M.  Ribot  and  his  ministry  April  23.  France  was  in  an  uproar,  for 
the  crisis  had  aroused  intense  excitement  in  every  party  and  among  all  classes. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  April  24  the  President,  M.  Faure,  conferred  with  M. 
Loubet,  vice-president  of  the  Senate,  M.  Brisson,  president  of  the  Chamber 
and  other  leaders  in  relation  to  a  new  cabinet.  M.  Loubet  assured  him  that 
the  Senate  having  asserted  its  constitutional  prerogatives  would  not  offer 
any  factitious  opposition  to  the  formation  of  a  cabinet  from  any  combination 
of  parties.  M.  M.  Brisson  and  Poincare  advised  M.  Faure  to  form  a  Radico- 
Republican  cabinet.  Later  in  the  day  the  President  had  an  interview  with 
M.  Meline,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Opportunists.  The  latter  desired  to 
have  the  chambers  dissolved  and  to  appeal  to  the  country.  The  activity  and 
excitement  of  the  socialists,  who  regarded  the  late  cabinet  as  more  nearly 
representing  their  theories  than  they  could  hope  for,  was  intense.  The 
Senate’s  action  had  incensed  them  and  this  feeling  was  greatly  increased 


374 


FRANCE.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION. 


[1884 


when  it  was  known  that  the  credits  asked  for  Madagascar  had  been  unan 
imously  voted  by  the  same  body  whose  adverse  vote  had  compelled  M. 
Bourgeois  to  resign.  The  news  rapidly  circulated,  angry  threats  were  heard, 
and  excited  men  gathered  in  groups  only  to  be  dispersed  by  the  police. 
There  was  an  immense  meeting  of  the  socialists  in  Tivoli  Vauxhall  on  the 
evening  of  April  24,  attended  by  many  deputies.  M.  Pellitan,  leader  of  the 
Radicals,  made  an  impassioned  address.  A  resolution  censuring  the  Senate 
and  demanding  a  revision  of  the  Constitution  elicited  the  cry,  “  Down 
with  the  Senate,”  all  over  the  house.  A  turbulent  mob  marched  to  the 
boulevards  in  a  solid  body  with  the  same  cry  against  the  Senate.  Many 
arrests  were  made  by  the  police,  who  vainly  attempted  to  prevent  the  mass 
of  people  from  reaching  the  boulevards.  The  action  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  had  brought  the  constitutional  crisis  to  an  acute  stage  and  the  dis¬ 
solution  of  the  chambers  was  generally  expected.  The  socialists  demanded 
the  summoning  of  the  National  Assembly  and  the  Conservatives  predicted 
a  presidential  as  well  as  ministerial  crisis.  The  excitement  gradually  sub¬ 
sided,  and  M.  Meline  was  induced  to  form  a  cabinet  of  Moderates  and 
Liberals,  April  23,  1896.  The  Chamber  at  once  passed  a  vote  of  confidence 
by  a  decided  majority  of  231  to  196  votes. 

On  April  30,  M.  Meline,  in  a  statement  of  the  policy  of  the  new  cabinet, 
declared  that  the  probate  laws  and  the  laws  regulating  the  drink  traffic 
would  be  strongly  urged  by  the  government,  and  promised  economy  in  the 
administration.  No  efforts  would  be  spared  to  aid  the  interests  of  agricul¬ 
ture,  to  regulate  the  hours  of  labor,  to  complete  the  national  defense  and  to 

organize  pension  funds. 

* 

Emile  Zola  was  rejected  as  a  candidate  to  the  French  Academy,  May 
28.  The  celebrated  French  painter,  Bouguereau,  married  his  distinguished 
artist-pupil,  Miss  Elizabeth  Gardner,  of  Exeter,  N.  H.,  on  June  23,  1896. 


FRANCE-CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


b,  d,fl,  stand  respectively  for  born,  died  and  flourished. 


B.C. 

587  The  Gauls  in  Germany  and  Italy. 

340  The  Gauls  in  Greece. 

283  A  Roman  army  destroyed  by  the 
Gauls  at  Aretium. 

279  The  Gauls  near  Delphi. 

241  The  Gauls  attacked  by  Eumenes 
and  Attalus. 

154  Marseilles  calls  in  the  assistance  of 
the  Romans. 

122  Sextius  founds  Aquae  Sextiae  in  Pro¬ 
vence. 

1 18  Foundation  of  Narbo  Martius. 

io2  Marius  defeats  the  Teutons  in  two 
battles. 

100  Birth  of  Julius  Caesar. 

58  Caesar  obtains  the  government  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul  for  five  years. 
Attacks  the  Helvetii. 

51  Gaul  made  a  Roman  province. 

A.D. 

70  Civilis  surrenders. 

79  Death  of  Sabinus  and  of  his  wife 
Eponina. 

273  The  Emperor  Aurelian  in  Gaul. 

273  Battle  of  Chalons-sur-Marne. 

277  Probus  goes  on  an  expedition  to 
Gaul,  in  which  country  the  Franks 
settle  about  this  time. 

305  The  Franks  defeated  by  Constantius 
in  Gaul. 

355  The  Franks  take  Cologne,  and  de¬ 
stroy  it;  Julian  named  prefect  of 
Transalpine  Gaul. 

357  Julian  defeats  six  German  kings  at 
Strasburg. 

413  The  kingdom  of  the  Burgundians 
begins  under  Gondicarius. 

420  Pharamond  supposed  to  begin  the 
kingdom  of  the  Franks. 


A.D. 

426  Aetius  defeats  the  Franks  on  the 
borders  of  the  Rhine. 

438  The  Franks  obtain  a  permanent 
footing  in  Gaul. 

451  Battle  of  Chalons. 

458  Childeric,  king  of  the  Franks,  de* 
posed  by  his  subjects. 

462  The  Ripuarian  Franks  take  Cologne 

from  the  Romans. 

463  Childeric  recalled  by  the  Franks. 

477  Marseilles,  Arles,  and  Aix  occupied 

by  the  Visigoths. 

Merovingian  Dynasty . 

481  Death  of  Childeric ;  his  son  Clovis 
succeeds  to  the  throne. 

486  Battle  of  Soissons  gained  by  Clovis 
against  Siagrius,  the  Roman  gen¬ 
eral  in  Gaul. 

493  Marriage  of  Clovis  with  Clotilda. 
496  Clovis,  king  of  France,  is  baptized 
after  the  battle  of  Tolbiac. 

501  Gondebaud,  king  of  the  Burgundians, 
publishes  his  code,  entitled  “La 
Loi  Gombette.” 

507  Battle  of  Vouille,  near  Poictiers; 
Alaric  is  defeated  and  slain  by 
Clovis. 

509  Clovis  receives  the  titles  of  Patrician 

and  Consul. 

510  Clovis  makes  Paris  the  capital  of  the 

French  dominions. 

511  Clovis  dying,  his  dominions  are 

divided  among  his  children. 

524  Battle  of  Voiron;  Chlodomir,  king 
of  Orleans,  is  killed  by  Gondemar, 
king  of  Burgundy. 


VU1 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

531  Thierry,  king  of  Metz,  seizes  Thurin¬ 

gia  from  Hermanfroi. 

532  The  kingdom  of  Burgundy  ends, 

being  conquered  by  Childebert  and 
Clotaire,  kings  of  Paris  and  Sois- 
sons. 

556  Civil  wars  in  France;  the  dominions 
of  Theodebald,  king  of  Metz,  are 
divided  between  Clotaire,  king  of 
Soissons,  and  Childebert,  king  of 
Paris. 

558  Childebert  dies,  and  is  succeeded  by 
his  son  Clotaire,  who  becomes  sov¬ 
ereign  of  all  France. 

560  Chramn,  natural  son  of  Clotaire, 
defeated  and  burnt  alive. 

567  Death  of  Charibert,  king  of  Paris ; 
his  territories  are  divided  among 
his  brothers ;  but  the  city  of  Paris 
is  held  by  them  in  common. 

577  Rivalry  of  the  two  queens,  Brune- 
haut  and  Fredegonde. 

612  Theodebert  II.,  king  of  Austrasia, 

defeated  and  confined  in  a  monas¬ 
tery  by  his  brother,  Thierry  II., 
king  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy. 

613  Clotaire,  king  of  all  France;  death 

of  Brunehaut,  widow  of  Sigebert, 
king  of  Austrasia. 

628  Clotaire  II.,  king  of  France,  dies, 
and  is  succeeded  by  his  son  Dago- 
bert. 

631  Childeric,  son  and  successor  of 
Charibert,  poisoned  by  Dagobert, 
who  remains  sole  monarch  of 
France. 

638  Dagobert,  king  of  France,  is  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  two  sons,  Sigebert 

II.  in  Austrasia,  and  Clovis  II. 
in  Neustria  and  Burgundy.  The 
Maires  du  Palais  begin  to  usurp 
the  royal  authority. 

678  Death  of  Dagobert  II.,  king  of 
Neustria  ;  Martin  and  Pepin  Heris- 
tal,  mayors  of  the  palace.  Thierry 

III.  is  suffered  to  enjoy  the  title  of 
king  of  Austrasia. 


A.D. 

691  Clovis  III.  king. 

715  Charles  Martel,  son  of  Pe'pin  Heris- 
tal,  governs  as  mayor  of  the  palace. 
717  Charles  Martel  defeats  king  Childe¬ 
ric  II.  and  the  Neustrians. 

732  Charles  Martel  defeats  the  Saracens. 
735  Charles  Martel  becomes  master  of 
Aquitaine. 

737  On  the  death  of  Thierry  III., 
Charles  Martel  governs  France, 
with  the  title  of  duke,  for  six  years. 

741  Charles  Martel  dies,  and  is  succeeded 

by  his  sons,  Carloman  in  Austrasia 
and  Thuringia,  and  Pepin  in  Neus¬ 
tria,  Burgundy  and  Provence. 

742  Pepin  places  Childdric  III.  on  the 

throne  of  Neustria  and  Burgundy. 
— Charlemagne  A 

Carlovingian  Dynasty . 

752  Pepin  deposes  Childeric,  confines 
him  in  a  monastery,  and  is  conse¬ 
crated  at  Soissons. 

754  Pepin’s  expedition  into  Italy. 

758  Pepin  reduces  the  Saxons  in  Ger¬ 
many. 

768  Pepin  dies  at  St.  Denis,  and  is  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  sons  Charles  and 
Carloman. 

771  Carloman  dying  in  November, Charle¬ 

magne  remains  sovereign  of  all 
France. 

772  Charlemagne  begins  the  Saxon  war, 

which  continues  thirty  years. 

773  Charlemagne  defeats  the  troops  of 

Didier,  king  of  the  Lombards,  and 
and  lays  siege  to  Pavia. 

774  Surrender  of  Pavia,  and  capture  of 

Didier. 

776  The  abbey  church  of  St.  Denis,  near 
Paris,  founded. 

778  Battle  of  Roucevaux. 

784  Charlemagne  defeats  Witikind  and 
the  Saxons. 

791  Charlemagne  defeats  the  Avari,  in 
Pannonia. 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


IX 


A.D. 

793  The  Saracens  ravage  Gallia  Nar- 
bonnensis,  where  they  are  at  length 
defeated  by  Charlemagne. 

800  Charlemagne  crowned  king  of  Italy 
and  emperor  of  the  West. 

806  Partition  of  the  empire. 

813  Charlemagne  associates  his  son 

Louis,  surnamed  the  Debonnair, 
or  the  Pious,  to  the  Western  Em¬ 
pire. 

814  Charlemagne  dies;  succeeded  as 

emperor  and  king  by  his  son  Louis. 
817  Louis  divides  his  empire  among  his 
children. 

840  Louis  the  Debonnair  dies ;  his  eldest 

son,  Lothaire,  has  Italy,  with  the 
title  of  emperor ;  Charles  the  Bald, 
the  kingdom  of  France ;  and  Louis, 
that  of  Bavaria  or  Germany. 

841  Battle  of  Fontanet. 

843  New  partition  of  the  Fjrench  domin¬ 

ions  in  an  assembly  at  Thionville. 

844  Charles  the  Bald  defeated  in  Aqui¬ 

taine  by  Pepin  II. 

877  Charles  the  Bald  poisoned.  His  son, 
Louis  II.,  surnamed  the  Stam¬ 
merer,  succeeds  him. 

879  Louis  the  Stammerer  dies,  and  is 

succeeded  by  his  sons,  Louis  III. 
and  Carloman.  Boson  seizes  Dau- 
phiny  and  Provence,  and  begins 
the  kingdom  of  Arles. 

880  The  Normans  invade  France,  and 

destroy  several  abbeys. 

881  Louis  III.,  king  of  France,  defeats 

the  Normans  at  Saucourt. 

882  Louis  III.  of  France  dies,  leaving 

his  brother  Carloman  sole  sover¬ 
eign.  Hincmar  d. 

887  Paris  besieged  by  the  Normans. 

888  On  the  death  of  Charles  his  domin¬ 

ions  are  divided  into  five  kingdoms. 
91 1  A  part  of  Neustria  granted  to  Rollo, 
as  Normandy,  by  Charles  t^e  Sim¬ 
ple. 

987  Hugh  Capet  king. 

996  Paris  made  the  capital  of  all  France. 


A.D. 

1060  Philip  I.  (the  Fair)  king. 

1108  Louis  VI.,  le  Gros  (the  Lusty),  king. 

1135  Letters  of  franchise  granted  to  cities 
and  towns  by  Louis  VI. 

1146  Louis  VII.  joins  the  Crusades. 

1180  Philip  (Augustus)  II.  king. 

1214  Philip  def’ ts  the  Germans  at  Bouvines. 

1223  Louis  VIII.  king. 

1224  Louis  frees  his  serfs. 

1226  Louis  IX.,  called  St.  Louis,  king. 

1250  to  1270  St.  Louis  defeats  King  Hen¬ 
ry  of  England ;  joins  the  Crusades ; 
captures  the  city  of  Damietta,  in 
Syria;  is  made  prisoner;  finally 
dies  before  Tunis. 

1266  Naples  and  Sicily  conquered  by 
Charles  of  Anjou. 

1270  Philip  III.  (the  Hardy)  king. 

1285  Philip  IV.  (the  Fair)  king. 

1301-02  Philip  quarrels  with  the  pope. 

1307-14  Philip  suppresses  the  Knights 
Templar,  and  burns  the  Grand 
Master  at  Paris. 

1314  Union  of  F ranee  and  N avarre.  Louis 
X.  king. 

1316  John  I.,  a  posthumous  son  of  Louis 
X.,  king.  Dies  at  the  age  of  four 
days. 

1316  Philip  V.  (called  “the  Long”)  king. 

1322  Charles  IV.  king. 

1328  Philip  VI.  (founder  of  the  House  of 
Valois)  king. 

1346  France  invaded  by  the  English. 

Philip  defeated  at  Crecy  by  Edward 
III. 

1347  Edward  III.  takes  Calais. 

1349  Dauphiny  annexed  to  France. 

I35°  John  II*  king* 

1356  John  defeated  at  Poictiers  by  the 
English,  made  prisoner  and  carried 
to  London,  where  he  dies. 

1364  Charles  V.  (called  the  Wise)  king. 

1380  Charles  VI.  king. 

1407  The  pope  lays  France  under  an 
interdict. 

1415  The  English  defeat  the  French  at 
Agincourt. 


X 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

1420  Henry  V.,  of  England,  acknowledged 
heir  to  the  kingdom. 

1422  Henry  VI.,  of  England,  crowned  at 
Paris,  the  duke  of  Bedford  acting 
as  regent. 

1422  Charles  VIII.  king.  The  French, 

under  the  leadership  of  the  Maid 
of  Orleans,  take  up  arms  for  their 
independence,  in  1429. 

1423  Battle  of  Crevant  (June). 

1428  The  duke  of  Bedford  defeats  the 
French  at  Verneuil  (August  16). 

1428  The  siege  of  Orleans  begins  on  the 

1 2  th  of  October. 

1429  Battle  of  Herrings  (12th  February). 

Joan  of  Arc  obliges  the  English  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Orleans. 

1431  Trial  and  death  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

1435  Treaty  of  Arras. 

1436  Paris  recovered  by  the  French,  on  the 

13th  of  April. 

1437  Siege  of  Montereau.  Charles  VII. 

makes  his  solemn  entry  into  Paris. 
1440  The  “  Praguery.” 

1444  Truce  between  England  and  France 
signed  at  Tours. 

1449  War  renewed  between  England  and 

France. 

1450  Battle  of  Formigny  gained  over  the 

English.  Agnes  Sorel  d. 

1451  The  English  evacuate  Rouen  and 

several  places  in  France.  Cam¬ 
paign  in  Guyenne. 

1453  Talbott. 

1456  Jacques  Cceur  d. 

1461  Louis  XI.  king  of  France. 

1464  The  league  against  Louis  XI.  of 

France,  called  “  La  Guerre  du  Bien 
Public.” 

1465  Treaties  of  Conflans  and  of  Saint- 

Maur. 

1467  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  A 

1468  Louis  XI.  at  Peronne.  Revolt  of  the 

Liegese. 

1476  Charles,  duke  of  Burgundy,  defeated 

at  Granson  (20th  of  June). 

1477  The  duke  of  Burgundy  slain  at  Nancy. 


A.D. 

1479  Battle  of  Guinegate. 

1483  Louis  XI.  d.  Rabelais  A  Luther  A 

Charles  VIII.  king  of  France. 

1484  The  States-General  convoked  at 

Tours. 

1488  Battle  of  St.  Aubin ;  the  duke  of 
Brittany  is  defeated  and  the  duke 
of  Orleans  taken  prisoner  (28th  of 
June). 

1492  Brittany  united  to’the  French  crown. 

1494  Charles  VIII.,  king  of  France,  goes 

on  an  expedition  into  Italy. 

1495  Battle  of  Fornovo  between  Charles 

VIII.  and  the  Venetians  (6th  July). 
Clement  Marot  b. 

Branch  of  Orleans . 

1498  Death  of  Charles  VIII.,  king  of 

France  (April  7  th). 

1499  Louis  XII.,  king  of  France,  takes 

possession  of  Milaness,  and  enters 
Milan  on  the  6th  of  October. 

1500  Insurrection  at  Milan. 

1501  Louis  XII.  of  France  and  Ferdinand 

V.  of  Spain  seize  on  the  kingdom 
of  Naples. 

1503  The  power  of  the  French  in  Naples 

ends  with  the  loss  of  the  battles  of 
Cerignola,Seminara,  and  Garigliano. 
Pope  Alexander  VI.  d.  Michel  de 
l’Hospital  b. 

1504  Truce  between  France  and  Spain. 

1508  The  pope  and  the  emperor  join  the 

king  of  France  in  the  treaty  of  Cam- 
bray,  against  the  Venetians. 

1509  Battle  of  Agnadello  (14th  of  May). 

Calvin  b.  Etienne  Dolet  b.  Mar¬ 
tial  d’Auvergne  d. 

1510  Cardinal  d’Amboise  d. 

1512  Battle  of  Ravenna.  Gaston  de  Foix  d. 

1513  The  French  defeated  by  the  Swiss 

in  the  battle  of  Novarra.  Jacques 
Amyot  b.  Pope  Julius  II.  d. 

1514  Anne  of  Brittany  d. 

Branch  of  Angoiileme . 

1515  Battle  of  Melegnano  between  the 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


xi 


AJO. 

French  and  Swiss.  Louis  XII.  d. 
Ramus  b. 

1516  Treaty  of  Noyons  signed  on  the  16th 
of  August. 

1520  Interview  between  Henry  VIII.  of 

England  and  Francis  I.  of  France 
(4th  of  June).  Pierre  Viret  b. 

1521  League  between  the  emperor  Charles 

V.  of  Spain  and  Henry  VIII.  of 
England,  against  the  king  of  France. 
1523  League  against  Francis  I.  of  France, 
by  Pope  Clement  VII.,  the  emperor, 
and  the  Venetians.  Bayards.  The 
memoirs  of  Commines  published. 

1525  Francis  I.  taken  prisoner  in  the 

battle  of  Pavia  (24th  of  February), 
and  sent  to  Madrid. 

1526  Treaty  of  Madrid  (14th  of  January). 

Francis  is  restored  to  liberty.  The 
Holy  League. 

1527  Henri  Estienne  b.  Brantome  b. 

1529  Peace  of  Cambray,  between  Charles 

V.  and  Francis  I.  Louis  de  Ber- 
quin  put  to  death.  Etienne  Pas- 
quier  b. 

1536  League  between  Francis  I.  of  France 
and  Solyman  II.,  sultan  of  the  Turks, 
against  the  emperor  Charles  V. 
Vanquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  b. 

1543  Treaty  of  alliance  between  Sultan 

Solyman  and  Francis  I.  of  France 
against  the  emperor  Charles  V. 

1544  Battle  of  Cerisoles.  Treaty  of  Crespy 

(18th  of  September).  Bonaventure 
des  Periers  d.  Clement  Marot  d. 
Du  Bartas  b. 

1545  Massacre  of  the  Vaudois.  Robert 

Gamier  b. 

1547  Henry  II.  king  of  France. 

1548  Rebellion  in  the  South  of  France. 

La  Boetie  writes  his  Contre  un. 
First  edition  of  the  Salic  law. 

1556  Charles  V.  resigns  the  crown  of 
Spain  and  all  his  other  dominions 
and  retires  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
Just.  Malherbe  b. 


A.  D. 

1557  Battle  of  St.  Quentin  (10th  of 

August). 

1558  The  French  recover  Calais  from  the 

English.  Mellin  de  St.  Gelais  d. 

1559  Henry  II.  d.  Peace  of  Cateau-Cam- 

bresis.  Edict  of  Ecouen.  Amyot 
translates  Plutarch.  Anne  Dubourg 
put  to  death. 

1560  Conspiracy  of  Amboise.  Francis 

II.  d.  Charles  IX.,  king.  Joachim 
du  Bellay  d. 

1562  Massacre  of  Vassy.  Battle  of  Dreux 

(19th  December). 

1563  The  duke  of  Guise  is  assassinated  by 

Poltrot  (24th  February).  Peace  of 
Amboise. 

1567  The  religious  wars  recommence  in 
France  ;  battle  of  St.  Denis,  between 
the  prince  of  Condd  and  the  con¬ 
stable  Montmorency,  in  which  the 
latter  is  mortally  wounded. 

1569  The  Huguenots  defeated  in  the 
battles  of  Jarnac,  on  the  13th  May, 
and  of  Moncontour,  on  the  3d 
October. 

1572  Massacre  of  the  Huguenots  at  Paris, 
on  Sunday,  the  24th  August.  Ra¬ 
mus  d.  Jean  Goujon  d. 

1574  Charles  IX.  d.  Hotman  publishes 
his  Franco-  Gallia. 

1576  Edict  of  pacification  in  France. 

1584  The  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  proposed 
as  eventual  king  of  France.  La 
Croix  du  Maine  publishes  his 
Bibliotheque  Franqaise. 

1587  Battle  of  Coutras  (10th  of  October), 

the  Duke  de  Joyeuse  is  defeated  by 
Henry,  king  of  Navarre.  An 
Arabic  lectureship  is  created  at  the 
college  royal. 

1588  The  duke  of  Guise  and  his  brother 

the  cardinal  murdered  at  Blois. 

Dynasty  of  the  Bourbons. 

1589  Henry  III.  of  France  murdered 

(2 2d  of  July).  Henry  IV.  of 
Navarre  succeeds  to  the  vacant 


Xll 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

throne.  Battle  of  Arques.  Ron- 
sard,  Hotman  d. 

1590  Battle  of  Ivry  (4th  of  March). 

Germain  Pilon,  Jean  Cousin,  Du 
Bartas,  Cujas,  Ambrose  Pare, 
Palissy  d.  Theophile  de  Viaud  b. 

1591  The  pope  excommunicates  Henry 

IV. :  the  parliament  of  Paris 
oppose  the  sentence.  Guy  Co- 
quille’s  Libertes  de  Veglise  de  Fra?ice 
published.  La  Noue  d. 

1593  Henry  IV.  abjures  the  Protestant 

religion,  on  Sunday,  the  25th  of 
July,  at  St.  Denis.  The  Satire 
Mhiippce  published.  Amyot  d . 

1594  Henry  IV.  anointed  at  Chartres  : 
attempt  on  his  life  (17  th  December), 
Pierre  Pithou  fl.  Balzac,  St.  Amand 
b. 

1595  Battle  of  Fontaine-Frangaise.  Des- 

marets  de  St.  Sorlin  b. 

1598  Edict  of  Nantes  (April).  Peace  of 
Vervins  signed  on  the  22d  of  the 
same  month.  Voiture  b. 

1602  Marshal  Biron’s  conspiracy  detected 
and  punished. 

1610  Henry  IV.  assassinated  by  Ravaillac 
(4th  of  May).  Louis  XIII.  king 
of  France.  Scarron,  La  Calpre- 
nede  b. 

1617  Murder  of  Concini. 

1621  The  civil  war  renewed  with  the 
Huguenots  in  France,  and  continues 
nine  years.  The  Benedictines  of 
the  congregation  of  St.  Maur  receive 
their  statutes.  La  Fontaine  b. 

1628  Rochelle  besieged  and  taken  by 

Louis  XIII.  (18th  of  October). 

1629  Peace  restored  between  France  and 

England.  Malherbe  d.  Corneille 
brings  out  Melite,  his  first  play. 

1630  Treaty  of  Cherasco.  “Journeedes 

Dupes.”  Hardy,  Agrippa,  d’Au- 
bigne  d. 

1632  Battles  of  Lutzen  and  of  Castel- 
naudary.  Flechier,  Bourdaloue  b. 
1636  Treaty  between  Louis  XIII.  of 


A.D. 

France,  and  Christina,  queen  of 
Sweden  (10th  of  March).  Port 
Royal  des  Champs  founded.  Le 
Cid  brought  out.  Boileau  b. 

1642  Conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars.  Riche¬ 

lieu  d. 

1643  Louis  XIII.  d.  (4th  of  May).  The 

Duke  d’Enghien,  afterward  prince 
of  Conde,  defeats  the  Spaniards  at 
Rocroy  (9th  of  May).  St.  Cyran  d. 
1648  The  prince  of  Conde  defeats  the 
archduke  at  Sens  (10th  of  August). 
Treaty  of  Munster  (14th  of  October) 
between  France,  Sweden  and  the 
empire.  The  civil  war  of  the 
Fronde  breaks  out  in  Paris.  Mer- 
senne,  Voiture  d.  La  Sueur 
finishes  his  series  of  paintings 
illustrating  the  history  of  St.  Bruno. 
1659  Peace  restored  between  France  and 
Spain,  by  the  treaty  called  the 
“  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees.”  Louis 
XIV.  marries  the  Infanta  of  Spain. 
Moliere  and  the  Frecieuses  ridicules . 
1661  Cardinal  Mazarin  d.  Bossuet’s  first 
sermon  before  Louis  XIV. 

1667  War  renewed  between  France  and 

Spain.  Moliere  and  Tartuffe.  Ra¬ 
cine  and  Afidromaque . 

1668  A  triple  alliance  between  Great  Brit¬ 

ain,  Sweden,  and  the  States-Gen- 
eral,  against  France  (23d  of  Jan¬ 
uary.)  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
between  France  and  Spain  (22d  of 
April).  Racine  and  Les  Plaideurs , 
Moliere  and  JO Avare.  Le  Sage  b. 

1672  War  declared  by  England  and 

France,  against  the  Dutch.  A  treaty 
between  the  empire  and  Holland, 
against  France  (15th  of  July).  Boi¬ 
leau  and  Le  Lutrin.  Moliere  and 
Les  Femmes  savantes. 

1673  The  English  and  French  defeat  the 
Dutch  (28th  of  May)  at  Schonvelt ; 
again  (4th  of  June),  and  (nth  of 
August)  in  the  mouth  of  the  Texel. 
Louis  XIV.  declares  war  against 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D> 

Spain  (9th  of  October).  Racine 

and  Mithridate. 

1674  Battle  of  Seneffe,  in  Flanders,  be¬ 

tween  the  prince  of  Orange  and  the 
prince  of  Conde  (1st  of  August). 
First  settlement  of  the  French  at 
Pondicherry.  Marshal  Turenne 
defeats  the  Imperialists.  Chapelain 
d.  Racine  and  Iphigenie .  Male- 
branche  and  the  Recherche  de  la 
Verite. 

1675  Conference  for  a  peace  held  at  Nim- 

eguen.  Madame  de  la  Valliere 
takes  the  veil. 

1678  Peace  of  Nimeguen  (31st  of  July). 
La  Fontaine  publishes  his  second 
series  of  fables.  Ducange’s  Latin 
Glossary. 

1681  The  city  of  Strasburg  submits  to 
Louis  XIV.  Mabillon  publishes 
his  De  re  diplomatica. 

1684  Luxemburg  taken  by  Louis  XIV. 

A  truce  between  France  and  Spain 
concluded  at  Ratisbon  (31st  of  July) 
and  between  France  and  the  empire 
(5th  of  August).  P.  Corneille  d. 

1685  Louis  XIV.  revokes  the  edict  of 

Nantes. 

1686  Treaty  of  alliance  between  Germany, 

Great  Britain,  and  Holland  against 
France.  Conde  d. 

1689  The  French  fleet  defeated  by  the 

English  and  Dutch  in  Bantry  Bay 
(1st  of  May).  Racine  and  Esther. 

1690  Battle  of  Fleurus  ;  Luxemburg  de¬ 

feats  the  allies  (21st  of  June).  The 
allied  English  and  Dutch  fleets  de¬ 
feated  by  the  French  off  Beachy 
Head  (30th  of  June). 

1691  A  congress  at  the  Hague,  in  Jan. 

Mons  taken  by  the  French  (30th  of 
March).  Louvois  d.  Racine  and 
Athalie. 

1692  Battle  of  La  Hogue  :  the  English 

defeat  the  French  fleet  (19th  of 
May).  Namur,  in  Flanders,  be¬ 
sieged  and  taken  by  Louis  XIV. 


•  •  • 
xm 

A.D. 

(25th  of  May).  Luxemburg  de¬ 
feats  the  allies  at  Steinkirk  (24th  of 
Juiy). 

1693  The  English  and  Dutch  fleets  de¬ 
feated  by  the  French  off  Cape  St. 
Vincent  (16th  of  June).  The  duke 
of  Savoy  defeated  by  Marshal  Cat- 
inat,  at  Marsaglia  (24th  of  Septem¬ 
ber).  Pelisson,  Bussy  Rabutin,  Ma¬ 
dame  de  La  Fayette,  Mdlle.  de. 
Montpensier  d. 

1697  Peace  of  Ryswick  (nth  of  September)) 

between  Great  Britain  and  France 
— France  and  Holland — France  and 
Spain  ;  and  on  the  20th  of  October, 
between  France  and  the  empire. 
Santeuil  d.  The  Abbe  Prevost  b. 

1698  The  first  treaty  of  partition  between 

Great  Britain,  France  and  Holland 
signed  (19th  of  August)  for  the  dis¬ 
memberment  of  Spain,,  to  Charles 
II.,  king  of  that  country,  makes  his 
will  in  favor  of  a  prince  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon.  Le  Nain  de 
Tillemont  d. 

1700  Charles  II.,  king  of  Spain,  d.  (21st 
of  October).  The  duke  of  Anjou, 
grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  succeeds 
by  the  name  of  Philip  V. 

1702  Battle  of  Luzzara,  in  Italy  (4th  of 
August)  ;  the  Imperialists  defeated 
by  the  French ;  the  French  fleet 
destroyed  in  the  port  of  Vigo,  by 
the  British  and  Dutch  (12th  of 
October).  Jean  Bart  d. 

1704  Battle  of  Hochstedt  or  Blenheim 
(2d  of  August).  Bossuet,  Bourda- 
loue  d. 

1706  Battle  of  Ramifies  (12th  of  May); 
the  French  are  defeated  by  the  duke 
of  Marlborough. 

1708  Battle  of  Audenarde  (30th  of  June), 

the  French  defeated  by  the  duke  of 
Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene. 
Regnard  and  Le  Legataire  universel} 
Le  Sage  and  Tur caret. 

1709  Battle  of  Malplaquet  (31st  of  Aug.) 


XIV 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

the  French  defeated  by  the  allies. 
Mons  taken  by  the  allies  (21st  of 
October).  Port  Royal  des  Champs 
destroyed. 

1710  Battle  of  Villa  Viciosa  (29th  of  No¬ 
vember),  the  Imperialists,  under 
Count  Stahremburg,  are  defeated 
by  Philip  V. 

1712  Negotiations  for  a  general  peace 
opened  at  Utrecht.  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau  b. 

a  7 13  Peace  of  Utrecht,  concluded  by 
France  and  Spain,  with  England, 
Savoy,  Portugal,  Prussia,  and  Hol¬ 
land,  signed  on  the  30th  of  March 
O.S.  Fenelon  publishes  his  Trciite 
de  T existence  de  Dieu. 

1714  The  bull  “  Unigenitus  ”  received  in 

France. 

1715  Louis  XIV.  d.  (21st  of  August),  suc¬ 

ceeded  by  his  great-grandson,  Louis 
XV.,  under  the  regency  of  the  duke 
of  Orleans.  Malebranche,  Fenelon 
d.  Le  Sage’s  Gil  Bias. 

1717  Triple  alliance  between  Great  Brit¬ 

ain,  France  and  Holland,  signed  at 
the  Hague  (24th  of  December). 
The  memoirs  of  Cardinal  de  Retz 
published.  Massillon’s  Petit  Ca- 
reme  preached. 

1718  Quadruple  alliance  between  Ger¬ 

many,  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Holland,  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Baden. 
Conspiracy  of  Cellamare.  Great 
Britain  declares  war  against  Spain 
(nth  of  December).  Voltaire  and 
CEdipe ,  his  first  tragedy. 

1719  The  Mississippi  scheme  at  its  height 

inFrance.  Madame  de Maintenon^/. 

1720  The  French  Mississippi  company 

dissolved.  The  plague  breaks  out 
at  Marseilles,  and  causes  great  dis¬ 
tress. 

1723  Duke  of  Orleans  d.  Voltaire  pub¬ 
lishes  his  Poeme  de  la  Lig?ie  (La 
Henriade). 


A.D. 

1725  Treaty  of  Hanover,  between  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Russia,  against 
Germany  and  Spain  (3d  of  Sep¬ 
tember). 

17 33  Stanislaus  proclaimed  king  of  Po¬ 

land  (5th  of  October). 

1734  The  Imperialists  defeated  by  the 

French  and  Piedmontese  at  Parma 
(18th  of  June),  and  in  the  battle  of 
Guastalla,  by  the  king  of  Sardinia, 
and  the  Marshals  Coigny  and  Brog¬ 
lie  (8th  of  September).  Montes¬ 
quieu’s  Gra?ideur  et  Decadence  des 
Domains. 

1735  Treaty  of  Vienna  (3d  of  October). 

Voltaire  publishes  his  Lettres  philo- 
sophiques. 

1740  The  Emperor  Charles  VI.  d.  (9th  of 

October).  Voltaire  publishes  his 
Essai  sur  les  mceurs. 

1741  The  archduchess  Maria  Theresa 

crowned  queen  of  Hungary  at 
Presburg  (25th  of  June). 

1743  Battle  of  Dettingen  (16th  of  June). 
Cardinal  de  Lleury  d.  Voltaire  and 
Merope. 

1745  Battle  of  Lontenoy ;  the  French  de¬ 

feat  the  allies,  commanded  by  the 
duke  of  Cumberland. 

1746  (April  1 6th)  Battle  of  Culloden. 

1746  (September  30th)  Count  Saxe  de¬ 
feats  the  allies  at  Raucoux.  Vau- 
venargues  and  the  Introduction  a  la 
connaissance  de  l' esprit  humain. 

1748  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  between 
Great  Britain,  France,  Spain,  Aus¬ 
tria,  Sardinia,  and  Holland  (7th  of 
October).  Montesquieu’s  Esprit 
des  lois. 

1754  (April  17th)  the  French  attack  an 
English  fort  on  Monongahela,  and 
Logstown  on  the  Ohio.  General 
Braddock  defeated  and  killed  by 
the  French  (July  9th),  near  Fort 
Du  Quesne,  on  the  Ohio. 

1756  May  29th,  Admiral  Byng  defeat¬ 
ed  by  the  French.  The  duke  of 


XV 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

Richelieu  takes  Port  Mahon  (June 
28  th). 

1757  Damien  attempts  to  assassinate  Lou¬ 

is  XV.  The  French  garrison  of 
Chandernugger  surrenders  to  the 
British  (March  23d).  Battle  of 
Hastenbeck,  the  French  defeat  the 
duke  of  Cumberland  (July  26th). 
The  marquis  of  Montcalm  besieges 
Fort  George  (August  3d),  the  Eng¬ 
lish  surrender  on  the  9th.  Conven¬ 
tion  of  Closter-Seven,  between 
Marshal  Richelieu  and  the  duke  of 
Cumberland  (September  8th).  Bat¬ 
tle  of  Rosbach  (November  5th). 

1758  March  14th.  The  French  garrison 

in  Minden  capitulates.  The  French 
defeated  at  Crevelt  (June  23d). 
Helvetius  publishes  De  V Esprit. 
Quesnay’s  Tableau  economique. 

1 759  (September  30th.)  The  British  de¬ 

feated  by  the  French  in  the  East 
Indies,  near  Arcot.  Rousseau’s 
Nouvelle  Helo'is e . 

1760  (April  28th.)  The  English  defeated 

by  the  French  near  Quebec.  Mdme. 
de  Souza  b. 

1761  (August  15th.)  The  family  compact 

concluded  between  Louis  XV.  of 
France  and  Charles  III.  of  Spain. 
Voltaire’s  LTngenu. 

1762  (August  6th.)  The  Jesuits  suppressed 

in  France.  Treaty  of  peace  signed 
at  Fontainebleau,  between  France, 
Spain  and  Great  Britain.  Rous¬ 
seau’s  Emile., 

1763  (February  10th.)  Peace  of  Paris,  be¬ 

tween  Great  Britain,  France  and 
Spain,  acceded  to  by  Portugal. 
L’Abbe  Prevost  d. 

1767  (May;  1 5th.)  Corsica  ceded  to  France, 
by  the  Genoese.  Benjamin  Con¬ 
stant,  Fievee,  b. 

1769  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Cuvier,  Cha¬ 
teaubriand,  b. 

1774  (May  10th.)  Louis  XV.  of  France 
d.  Succeeded  by  Louis  XVI. 


|  A.D. 

*77^  (February  6th.)  Treaty  of  alliance 
and  defence  between  France  and 
the  Americans.  Pondicherry  taken 
by  the  British.  Rousseau,  Vol¬ 
taire,  d.  Buffon’s  Epoques  de  la 
nature. 

1782  (April  12th.)  Sir  George  Rodney 

defeats  the  French  fleet  under 
Count  de  Grasse,  off  Dominica. 
Another  engagement  near  Trinco- 
malee,  on  the  same  day ;  and  a 
third  in  September. 

1783  (January  20th.)  Preliminaries  of 

peace  between  Great  Britain,  France 
and  Spain,  by  which  the  indepen¬ 
dence  of  America  is  confirmed. 

1788  (November  6th.)  The  French  nota¬ 

bles,  convoked  by  Louis  XVI.,  as¬ 
semble  at  Paris.  Buffon  d.  Ber- 
nardin  de  St.  Pierre’s  Paul  et  Vir- 
ginie . 

1789  (May  4th.)  The  States-General  of 

France  assemble.  The  Bastille  at 
Paris  destroyed  (July  14th).  Che¬ 
nier’s  Charles  IX.  performed. 

1790  Confederation  of  the  Champs  de 

Mars ;  the  king  takes  the  oath  to 
the  constitution,  July  14th. 

1791  Death  of  Mirabeau,  April  2d. 

Flight  of  the  king  and  queen.  They 
are  arrested  at  Varennes,  June  21st. 
Louis  (now  a  prisoner)  sanctions 
the  National  Constitution,  Septem¬ 
ber  15th. 

1792  First  coalition  against  France.  Com¬ 

mencement  of  the  great  wars,  June. 
Battle  of  Valmy  ;  the  Prussians  de¬ 
feated,  and  France  saved  from  in¬ 
vasion,  Sept.  20th.  Attack  on  the 
Tuileries  by  the  mob,  Aug.  10th. 
Massacres  in  the  prisons  of  Paris, 
Sept.  2-5.  Opening  of  the  Nation¬ 
al  Convention,  Sept.  17th.  The  con¬ 
vention  abolishes  royalty  ;  declares 
France  a  republic,  Sept.  20-22. 

1793  Louis  XVI.  beheaded,  Jan.  21st 

War  against  England  declared, 


XVI 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

Feb.  i  st.  Insurrection  in  La  Ven¬ 
dee  begins,  March.  Proscription 
of  the  Girondists.  Beginning  of 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  May  31st. 
Charlotte  Corday  kills  Marat,  July 
13th.  Execution  of  Marie  Antoin¬ 
ette,  Oct.  1 6th. 

1793  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  Philippe  Ega- 

lite  beheaded,  Nov.  6th.  Madame 
Roland  executed,  Nov.  8th. 

1794  Danton  and  others  guillotined,  April 

5th.  Robespierre  and  seventy-one 
others  guillotined,  July  28th.  Close 
of  the  Reign  of  Terror. 

1795  The  Dauphin  (Louis  XVII.)  dies  in 

prison.  The  Directory,  Nov.  1st. 

1796  Bonaparte  wins  the  victories  of  Mon- 

ten  otte,  Mondovi,  and  Lodi,  in  It¬ 
aly. 

1796  The  conspiracy  of  Babceuf  sup¬ 

pressed. 

1797  Pichegru’s  conspiracy  fails. 

1797  Bonaparte’s  expedition  to  Egypt. 
Destruction  of  the  French  fleet  near 
Alexandria  by  Nelson. 

1799  Bonaparte  returns  from  Egypt.  De¬ 

poses  the  Council  of  Five  Hun¬ 
dred,  and  is  declared  First  Consul, 
Nov.  10th. 

1800  Battle  of  Marengo.  Great  victory 

by  Bonaparte  over  the  Austrians. 
Attempt  to  kill  the  consul  by  means 
of  an  infernal  machine,  Dec.  24th. 

1802  Peace  with  England,  Spain  and  Hol¬ 

land  signed  at  Amiens,  March  27th. 
Legion  of  Honor  instituted.  Bon¬ 
aparte  made  “  consul  for  life,” 
Aug  2d. 

1803  Bank  of  France  established.  War 

with  England.  1 

1804  Conspiracy  of  Moreau  and  Pichegru 

against  Bonaparte  fails.  Execution 
of  the  Duke  d’Enghien.  The  em¬ 
pire  formed.  Napoleon  proclaimed 
emperor,  May  18th. 

1805  Napoleon  crowned  king  of  Italy, 

May  26th.  Battle  of  Trafalgar. 


A.D. 

Destruction  of  the  French  fleet, 
Oct  2 1  st„  Battle  of  Austerlitz. 
Austria  humbled,  Dec.  2d. 

1806  Defeat  of  Prussians  at  Jena,  Oct. 
14th. 

1808  New  nobility  of  France  created. 

1809  Divorce  of  the  Empress  Josephine. 

Napoleon  defeated  at  Aspern  and 
Essling.  Victorious  at  Wagram. 

1810  Union  of  Holland  with  France. 

1812  War  with  Russia.  Napoleon  in¬ 

vades  Russia.  Great  victory  of  the 
French  at  Borodino,  Sept.  7th. 
Disastrous  retreat  of  the  French 
from  Moscow. 

1813  Alliance  of  Austria,  Russia,  and 

Prussia  against  Napoleon.  Battle 
of  Leipzig.  Napoleon  defeated, 
Oct.  16-18.  The  Allies  invade 
France  from  the  Rhine ;  the  Eng¬ 
lish  from  Spain. 

1814  Surrender  of  Paris  to  the  Allies, 

March  31.  Abdication  of  Napo¬ 
leon,  April  5.  Napoleon  goes  to 
Elba,  May  3.  Louis  XVIII.  enters 
Paris  May  3.  The  Bourbon  Dy¬ 
nasty  restored.  The  Constitutional 
Charter  established,  June  4th-joth. 

1815  Napoleon  leaves  Elba;  lands  at 

Cannes,  March  1st,  and  proceeds  to 
Paris.  Is  joined  by  all  the  army. 
The  Allies  form  a  league  for  his 
destruction,  March  25.  Napoleon 
abolishes  the  Slave  Trade,  March 
29.  Leaves  Paris  for  the  army, 
June  12.  Battle  of  Waterloo. 
Final  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  June 
18.  Napoleon  reaches  Paris  June 
20.  Abdicates  in  favor  of  his  son, 
June  22.  Reaches  Rochefort, 
where  he  intends  to  embark  for 
America,  July  3.  Entry  of  Louis 
XVIII.  into  Paris,  July  3.  Napo¬ 
leon  goes  on  board  the  “  Bellero- 
phon  ”  and  claims  the  “hospitality” 
of  England,  July  15.  Upon  reach¬ 
ing  England  is  transferred  to  the 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


XVII 


A.D. 

“  Northumberland,”  and  sent  a 
prisoner  to  St.  Helena,  Aug.  8. 
Arrives  at  St.  Helena,  Oct.  15. 
Execution  of  Marshal  Ney,  Dec.  7. 
1816  The  family  of  Napoleon  forever 
excluded  from  France. 

1820  Assassination  of  the  Duke  de  Berri, 

Feb.  13. 

1821  Death  of  Napoleon  I.,  May  5. 

1824  Death  of  Louis  XVIII.,  Sept.  16. 

Charles  X.  king. 

1827  National  Guard  disbanded.  War 
with  Algiers.  Riots  in  Paris. 
Seventy-six  new  peers  created. 

1829  The  Polignac  administration  organ¬ 

ized. 

1830  Chamber  of  Deputies  dissolved,  May 

16.  Capture  of  Algiers,  July  5. 
Revolution  of  July  Flight  and  ab¬ 
dication  of  Charles  X.  Louis 
Philippe  king.  Polignac  and  the 
ministers  of  Charles  X.  sentenced 
to  perpetual  imprisonment. 

1831  The  hereditary  peerage  abolished. 

1832  Insurrection  in  Paris  suppressed. 

1833  Failure  of  the  attempt  of  the  Duch¬ 

ess  de  Berri. 

1834  Death  of  Lafayette,  May  20. 

1835  Fieschi  attempts  to  kill  the  king, 

July  28,  and  is  executed,  Feb. 6, 1836. 

1836  Louis  Alibaud  fires  at  the  king,  June 

25;  is  guillotined,  July  11.  Death 
of  Charles  X.,  Nov.  6.  Prince 
Louis  Napoleon  attempts  an  insur¬ 
rection  at  Strasbourg,  Oct.  30.  Is 
sent  to  America,  Nov.  13.  The 
ministers  of  Charles  X.  set  at  lib¬ 
erty  and  sent  out  of  France.  Meu- 
nier  attempts  to  kill  the  king. 

1838  Death  of  Talleyrand,  May  17. 

1840  M.  Thiers  Prime  Minister.  Removal 
of  the  remains  of  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  I.  from  St.  Helena  to 
Paris.  Prince  Louis  Napoleon, 
General  Montholon,  and  others 
attempt  an  insurrection  at  Boulogne, 
Aug.  6.  Prince  Louis  Napoleon 
2 


A.D. 

sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life, 
and  confined  in  the  Castle  of  Ham, 
Oct.  6.  Darmes  attempts  to  shoot 
the  king,  Oct.  15. 

1842  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  heir  to 

the  throne,  dies  from  the  effect  of 
a  fall,  July  13. 

1843  Queen  Victoria,  of  England,  visits 

the  royal  family  at  the  chateau  d’Eu. 
Extradition  treaty  with  England. 

1846  Lecompte  attempts  to  assassinate 

the  king  at  Fontainebleau.  Louis 
Napoleon  escapes  from  Ham. 
Joseph  Henri  attempts  to  kill  the 
king. 

1847  Jerome  Bonaparte  returns  to  France 

after  an  exile  of  thirty-two  years. 
Death  of  the  ex-Empress  Marie 
Louise. 

1848  Revolution  of  February  22d  to  26th. 

Flight  of  the  king  and  royal  family. 
The  Republic  proclaimed,  Feb.  26. 
The  provisional  government  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  an  executive  commis¬ 
sion  named  by  the  assembly,  May  7. 
Louis  Napoleon  elected  to  the 
assembly  from  the  Seine  and  three 
other  departments,  June  13.  Out¬ 
break  of  the  Red  Republicans. 

1848  Severe  fighting  in  Paris,  June  23d  to 
26th  ;  16,000  persons  killed,  includ¬ 
ing  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  Gen. 
Cavaignac  at  the  head  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment,  June  28.  Louis  Napoleon 
takes  his  seat  in  the  assembly,  Sept. 
26.  The  Constitution  of  the  Re¬ 
public  solemnly  proclaimed,  Nov. 
12.  Louis  Napoleon  elected  pres¬ 
ident  of  the  French  Republic,  Dec. 
11.  Takes  the  oath  of  office,  Dec. 
20. 

1850  Death  of  Louis  Philippe  at  Clare¬ 

mont,  in  England,  Aug.  26.  Free¬ 
dom  of  the  press  curtailed. 

1851  Electric  telegraph  between  England 

and  France  opened.  The  Coup 
d’Etat.  Arrest  of  the  National 


XV111 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


Assembly,  Dec.  2.  Severe  fighting 
in  Paris.  The  president  crushes 
the  opposition,  Dec.  3,  and  4.  The 
Coup  d’Etat  sustained  by  the  people 
at  the  polls,  and  Louis  Napoleon 
re-elected  president  for  ten  years, 
Dec.  21,  and  22. 

1852  President  Louis  Napoleon  occupies 

the  Tuileries,  Jan.  1.  The  new 
constitution  published,  Jan.  14. 
The  property  of  the  Orleans  family 
confiscated.  The  birthday  of  Na¬ 
poleon  I.,  Aug.  15th,  declared  the 
only  national  holiday.  Organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  Legislative  Chambers 
(the  Senate  and  Corps  Legislatif), 
March  29.  The  president  visits 
Strasbourg.  M.  Thiers  and  the 
exiles  permitted  to  return  to  France, 
Aug.  8.  The  Senate  petitions  the 
president  for  “  the  re-establishment 
of  the  hereditary  sovereign  power  in 
the  Bonaparte  family,”  Sept.  13. 
The  president  visits  the  Southern  and 
Western  departments,  Sept,  and 
Oct.  At  Bordeaux  utters  his 
famous  expression,  “  The  Empire 
is  Peace.”  The  president  releases 
Abd-el-Kader,  Oct.  16.  Measures 
for  the  re-establishment  of  the 
empire  inaugurated,  Oct.  and  Nov. 
The  empire  re-established  by  the 
popular  vote,  Nov.  21  ;  yeas, 

7>839>552  ;  naYs>  254,501-  The 
president  declared  emperor  ;  he  as¬ 
sumes  the  title  of  Napoleon  III., 
Dec.  2. 

1853  The  emperor  marries  Eugenie,  coun¬ 

tess  of  Teba,  Jan.  29.  The  emper¬ 
or  releases  4,312  political  offenders, 
Feb.  2. 

1853  Bread  riots.  Death  of  F.  Arago, 

the  astronomer,  Oct.  2.  Attempt 
to  assassinate  the  emperor. 

1854  Beginning  of  the  Crimean  war. 

1855  Emperor  and  empress  visit  England 

in  April.  Industrial  exhibition 


A.D. 

opened  at  Paris,  May  15.  Pianori 
attempts  to  assassinate  the  emperor, 
April  28.  Bellemarre  attempts  to 
assassinate  the  emperor,  Sept.  8. 
Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert 
visit  France,  August. 

1856  Birth  of  the  Prince  Imperial,  March 

16.  The  treaty  of  Paris.  Close  of 
the  Crimean  war,  March  30.  Ter¬ 
rible  inundations  in  the  Southern 
Departments,  June. 

1857  The  archbishop  of  Paris  (Sibour) 

assassinated  by  a  priest  named  Ver¬ 
ger.  Conspiracy  to  assassinate 
the  emperor  detected,  July  n. 
Visit  of  the  emperor  and  empress  to 
England.  Death  of  Gen.  Cavaig- 
nac,  Oct.  28.  The  Emperor  Napo¬ 
leon  meets  the  emperor  of  Russia 
at  Stuttgart,  Sept.  25. 

1858  Orsini  and  others  attempt  to  kill 
the  emperor  by  the  explosion  of 
three  shells.  Two  persons  killed 
and  several  wounded,  Jan.  14. 
Passage  of  the  Public  Safety  Bill. 

1858  The  empire  divided  into  five  milita¬ 

ry  departments.  Republican  out¬ 
break  at  Chalons  crushed.  Orsi¬ 
ni  and  Pietri  executed  for  attempt¬ 
ing  to  assassinate  the  emperor. 
Visit  of  the  queen  of  England  to 
Cherbourg.  Conference  at  Paris  re¬ 
specting  the  condition  of  the  Danu- 
bian  Principalities. 

1859  The  emperor  warns  the  Austrian 

minister  of  his  intention  to  espouse 
the  Italian  cause,  Jan.  1.  France 
declares  war  against  Austria,  and 
sends  an  army  to  the  aid  of  Italy, 
May.  The  empress  declared 
regent.  The  emperor  takes  com¬ 
mand  of  the  army  in  Italy.  Ar¬ 
rives  at  Genoa,  May  12. 

1859  Battles  of  Montebello,  May  20 ; 
Palestro,  May  30th,  31st;  Magenta, 
June  4;  Malegnano,  June  8,  and 
Solferino,  June  24  ;  the  allies  vie* 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


xix 


torious  in  each.  Armistice  arranged 
July  6.  Meeting  of  the  emperors 
of  France  and  Austria  at  Villa 
Franca,  July  n.  Preliminary 
peace,  July  12.  The  Emperor 
Napoleon  returns  to  France,  July 
17.  Peace  conference  meets  at 
Zurich  for  arrangement  of  treaty 
between  France  and  Sardinia  and 
Austria.  Peace  signed,  Nov.  12. 

1860  The  emperor  adopts  a  free  trade 

policy.  Commercial  treaty  with 
England  signed  Jan.  23.  Annexa¬ 
tion  of  Savoy  and  Nice  to  France. 
The  Emperor  Napoleon  meets  the 
German  sovereigns  at  Baden,  June 
15-17.  Visit  of  the  emperor  and 
empress  to  Savoy,  Corsica,  and 
Algiers.  The  new  tariff  goes  into 
operation,  Oct.  1.  The  public 
levying  of  Peter’s  pence  forbidden, 
and  restrictions  placed  upon  the 
issuing  of  pastoral  letters.  The 
emperor  makes  concessions  to  the 
Chambers  in  favor  of  freedom  of 
speech.  Important  ministerial 
changes.  The  emperor  advises 
the  pope  to  give  up  his  temporal 
possessions. 

1861  Purchase  of  the  principality  of 

Monaco  for  4,000,000  francs. 
Troubles  with  the  church  about  the 
Roman  question.  The  government 
issues  a  circular  forbidding  priests 
to  meddle  in  politics,  April  n. 
Commercial  treaty  with  Belgium. 
France  declares  neutrality  in  the 
American  conflict.  France  recog¬ 
nizes  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  June 
24.  Meeting  of  the  emperor  and 
king  of  Prussia  at  Compiegne,  Oct. 
6. 

1861  Convention  between  France,  Great 
Britain,  and  Spain,  concerning  in¬ 
tervention  in  Mexico.  Embarrass¬ 
ment  in  the  government  finances. 


A.D. 

Achille  Fould  made  minister  of 
finance. 

1862  The  Mexican  expedition  begun. 

The  French  conquer  the  province 
of  Bienhoa,  in  Annam.  Six  prov¬ 
inces  in  Cochin  China  conquered, 
and  ceded  to  France.  The  British 
and  Spanish  forces  withdraw  from 
the  Mexican  expedition.  France 
declares  war  against  Mexico. 
Peace  with  Annam.  New  commer¬ 
cial  treaty  with  Prussia,  Aug.  2. 
Great  distress  in  the  manufacturing 
districts  in  consequence  of  the 
civil  war  in  the  United  States. 

1863  Commercial  treaty  with  Italy. 

Revolt  in  Annam  crushed.  Con¬ 
vention  with  Spain  for  the  rectifi¬ 
cation  of  the  frontier.  Political 
troubles.  Growing  power  of  the 
opposition  in  the  Chambers  and 
throughout  the  country.  The  elec¬ 
tions  result  in  the  choice  of  many 
opposition  deputies,  including 
Thiers,  Favre,  and  others.  The 
emperor  proposes  a  European  con¬ 
ference  for  the  settlement  of  the 
questions  of  the  day,  Nov.  9.  Eng¬ 
land  declines  to  join  the  proposed 
conference,  Nov.  25. 

1863  The  French  army  conquer  Mexico, 

and  occupy  the  capital. 

1864  Treaty  with  Japan.  Commercial 
treaty  with  Switzerland.  Conven¬ 
tion  with  Italy  respecting  the  evac¬ 
uation  of  Rome.  Establishment 
of  the  Mexican  Empire,  with  Max¬ 
imilian,  of  Austria,  as  emperor. 

1865  The  clergy  prohibited  from  reading 

the  pope’s  Encyclical  in  the 
churches.  Treaty  with  Sweden. 
The  plan  of  Minister  Duruy  for 
compulsory  education  rejected  by 
the  Assembly.  Death  of  the  Duke 
de  Morny.  Visit  of  the  emperor 
to  Algeria.  The  English  fleet  visits 
Cherbourg  and  Brest.  The  Fiench 


XX 


FRANCE.— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

fleet  visits  Portsmouth.  The  Queen 
of  Spain  visits  the  emperor  at 
Biarritz.  Students’  riots  in  Paris. 

1866  The  emperor  produces  a  feeling  of 
alarm  in  Europe  by  declaring  his 
detestation  of  the  treaties  of  1815, 
May  6.  He  proposes  a  peace  con¬ 
ference  (in  conjunction  with  Eng¬ 
land  and  Russia)  for  the  settlement 
of  the  troubles  between  Prussia, 
Italy  and  Austria.  Austria  refuses 
to  join  in  it,  May- June*  France 
declares  a  “  watchful  neutrality  ” 
as  to  the  German-Italian  war.  The 
Emperor  Napoleon  demands  of 
Prussia  a  cession  of  a  part  of  the 
Rhine  provinces.  His  demand  is 
refused,  Aug.  Austria  cedes  Vene- 
tia  to  France,  who  transfers  it  to 
Italy.  The  French  occupation  of 
Rome  terminated,  Dec.  n. 

1867  Settlement  of  the  Luxemburg  ques¬ 

tion  by  the  London  Conference. 
The  great  exposition  at  Paris, 
opened  April  1. 

1868  Riots  in  Bordeaux  in  March;  in 

Paris  in  June. 

1869  Great  radical  successes  in  the  elec¬ 

tions.  The  emperor  makes  new 
concessions  in  favor  of  constitu¬ 
tional  government.  Celebration 
of  the  one  hundredth  birthday  of 
Napoleon  the  Great. 

1870  The  Plebiscitum,  May  8.  Quarrel 

with  Prussia.  War  with  Prussia 
begins,  July  19.  The  emperor 
takes  command  of  the  army.  De¬ 
feat  of  the  French  at  Woerth  and 
Forbach,  Aug.  6.  Decisive  battle 
of  Gravelotte,  Aug.  18.  Bazaine’s 
army  shut  up  in  Metz.  Battle  of 
Sedan,  Sept.  1.  The  Emperor  Na¬ 
poleon  and  the  French  army  made 
prisoners  of  war,  Sept.  2. 

1870  Revolution  in  Paris.  Fall  of  the 
empire.  Flight  of  the  empress, 
Sept.  7.  The  republic  proclaimed 
in  Paris,  Sept.  7.  Paris  invested. 


A.D. 

1871  Paris  bombarded  by  the  Germans. 

The  armistice,  Feb.  28.  Meeting 
of  the  Assembly  at  Bordeaux.  For¬ 
mation  of  a  provisional  government. 
Peace  with  Germany.  Revolt  of 
the  commune.  The  second  siege 
and  capture  of  Paris. 

1872  Reorganization  of  the  government 

in  France.  A  large  part  of  the  war 
indemnity  paid. 

1873  May  24.  M.  Thiers  resigns  the 

presidency.  Marshal  MacMahon 
chosen  President  of  the  Republic. 
Sept.  Payment  of  the  German 
debt. 

1875  The  legislative  body  reorganized — 
two  Chambers  created. 

1875  Passage  of  a  bill  for  the  construc¬ 

tion  of  a  tunnel  under  the  English 
Channel. 

1876  March  7.  Meeting  of  the  new 

Chambers. 

1877  Sept.  3.  Death  of  M.  Thiers. 

1878  International  Exposition  at  Paris. 

1879  Resignation  of  President  MacMahon. 

M.  Jules  Grevy  elected  President. 
Mar.  1.  Prince  Napoleon  killed  in 
Zulu  land.  Dec.  21.  Resignation 
of  Waddington  ministry. 

1880  Gambetta  President  of  the  Chambers. 

Religious  orders  suppressed. 

1881  Financial  Congress  at  Paris. 

1881  Invasion  of  Tunis.  April.  Treaty 

signed  May  12  giving  France  the 

protecterate.  French  troops  enter 
Tunis,  Oct.  10. 

1882  Republicans  gain  twenty-two  seats 

in  the  Senate.  Jan.  3.  Gambet- 
ta’s  ministry  resigned.  Aug.  7.  Du- 
clerk  forms  ministry.  Revolt  of 
Arabi  Pasha  in  Egypt.  May. 
French  and  English  fleet  before 
Alexandria.  French  government 
declines  to  take  part  in  the  war 
against  Arabi. 

1883  Jan.  1.  Death  of  Gambetta  buried 

Jan.  6.  Death  of  General  Chanzy, 
buried  Jan.  8.  Death  of  General 
Horise  De  Valdare,  Jan.  8,  by 
apoplectic  fit  on  hearing  of  Chanzy’s 
death. 


FRANCE— CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


xxi 


A.D. 

1884.  Constitution  revised.  Occupation  of 
Tonquin.  The  “  Black  Flags.”  Criti¬ 
cism  of  the  war.  Violation  of  treaty  by 
the  Chinese.  Bartholdi’s  statue  of  Lib¬ 
erty  presented  to  the  United  States. 
Cholera  rages  in  Marseilles  and  Toulon. 
Senatorial  Reform  Bill  passed. 

1885.  Anti-German  sentiment.  Speech  of  Em¬ 
peror  William.  French  Chamber  re¬ 
stored  the  Scrutin  de  liste  ;  preliminaries 
of  peace  with  China  signed  ;  Floquet 
elected  president  of  the  Chamber  ;  death 
of  Victor  Hugo  ;  Black  Flags  defeated  in 
Tonquin  ;  Jules  Grevy  re-elected  Presi¬ 
dent. 

1886.  Strike  at  Decazville.  General  Boulanger 
popular.  Goblet  ministry.  Freycinet 
elected  president  of  the  Senate.  Banish¬ 
ment  of  the  hereditary  princes.  Petro¬ 
leum  discovered. 

1887.  Decoration  of  Honor  scandal.  President 
Grevy  resigns.  M.  Carnot  elected  Presi¬ 
dent.  Unsuccessful  attempt  to  assassin¬ 
ate  Jules  Ferry. 

1888.  Tirard  Cabinet.  General  Boulanger 
elected  a  deputy  :  deprived  of  army  com¬ 
mand]  and  censured,  organized  a  polit¬ 
ical  party  and  wounded  in  a  duel  with 
Floquet.  His  duel  with  M.  Floquet. 
Strained  foreign  relations. 

1889.  Floquet  ministry  overthrown.  Downfall 
and  flight  of  General  Boulanger.  Inter¬ 
national  Exposition  in  Paris. 

1890.  The  melenite  scandal.  Encyclical  of 
Leo  XIII.  to  French  clergy.  The  Duke 


A.D. 

of  Orleans  imprisoned.  Cabinet  crisis. 
The  de  Freycinet  Ministry  installed. 

1891.  Council  of  Labor  at  Paris.  The  German 
passport  difficulty.  Visit  of  French  fleet 
to  Portsmouth.  Death  of  Prince  Napo¬ 
leon  Bonaparte.  First  telephone  com¬ 
munication  between  London  and  Paris. 
Death  of  Ex-President  Grevy.  General 
Boulanger  committed  suicide. 

1892.  High  protection  tariff.  Serious  rioting 
at  Carmaux.  Dynamite  explosions  in 
Paris.  Ravachol  executed.  Panama 
Canal  Scandal  and  charges  against  depu¬ 
ties  and  other  officials.  M.  Renan  died. 

1893*  Charles  de  Lesseps’  confession  and  sen¬ 
tence.  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps’  death. 
Punishment  of  conspirators  in  the 
Panama  scandal. 

1894.  President  Carnot  assassinated.  M.  Casi- 
mir-Perier  elected  as  President. 

1895.  President  Casimer-Perier  resigns.  M. 
Faure  elected  as  President.  Ex-United 
States  Consul  John  L.  Waller  was  sen¬ 
tenced  by  the  French  in  Madagascar  to 
20  years’  imprisonment  for  aiding  the 
Hovas.  The  Russian,  French  and  Ger¬ 
man  Governments  protested  against  the 
acquisition  of  Chinese  territory  by  Japan. 

\ 

1896.  Conflict  between  the  Senate  and  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies.  Princess  Mar¬ 
guerite  of  Orleans  and  the  Duke  of 
Magenta  were  married  at  Paris.  The 
Bourgeois  ministry  in  France  resigned. 
The  Meline  ministry  succeeded  April  28. 


A  SHORT  SKETCH  OF  M.  GUIZOT. 


Francois  Pierre  Guillaume  Guizot,  the  great  French  statesman  and 
historian,  was  born  on  the  4th  of  October,  1787,  in  Nimes,  the  capital  of  the 
department  of  Gard.  He  was  the  son  of  Protestant  parents,  in  which  faith  he 
was  educated.  The  father  of  M.  Guizot  perished  on  the  scaffold  April  8th, 
1794,  just  before  the  end  of  that  fearful  reign  of  terror,  which  closed  in  July 
of  that  year  with  the  fall  of  Robespierre.  His  mother  escaped  with  her  two 
sons  to  Geneva,  where  they  were  both  educated.  In  1805  young  Guizot 
appeared  in  Paris,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  literature.  His  first  work, 
Nouveau  Dictionnaire  Universal  de  Synonymes  de  Langue  Franc aise  (in  two 
volumes),  appeared  four  years  after.  In  the  introduction  of  this  work  he 
displayed  a  most  methodical  cast  of  mind,  which  at  once  placed  him  in  the 
front  rank.  The  succeeding  seven  years  was  passed  in  most  laborious  literary 
study.  The  part  which  he  has  taken  in  the  government  of  France,  from  the 
time  of  the  second  restoration  to  the  year  of  his  death,  has  received  ample 
notice  in  the  body  of  this  history.  He  was  a  man  of  strict  rectitude  and 
almost  austere  morals  ;  he  never  enriched  himself  from  the  public  funds,  but 
he  could  not  escape  the  charge  of  having  allowed  others  to  do  so  from 
political  motives.  His  sympathetic  and  repressive  policy  made  him  unpopu¬ 
lar  with  the  masses,  since  it  was  united  with  a  cold  and  reserved  personal 
manner.  But  wherever  he  went,  to  any  of  the  capitals  of  Europe,  he  won 
the  respect  and  esteem  of  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  held 
the  position  of  Lecturer  on  History  at  the  Sarbonne,  a  celebrated  academic 
body  of  Paris,  until  the  government,  in  1824,  forbade  his  lectures.  M. 
Guizot  then  betook  himself  once  more  to  literature.  In.  1827  he  was 
permitted  to  resume  his  lectures,  which  at  once  were  attended  by  large  and 
enthusiastic  audiences.  These  lectures  gave  rise  to  quite  a  number  of 
historical  works  of  value.  On  the  1st  of  March,  1829,  he  again  took  his  place 
in  the  Council  of  State,  and  was  elected  by  the  town  of  Lisieux  January, 
1830,  to  a  seat  in  the  Chambers;  after  this  date  he  became  quite  prominent 
in  public  affairs,  until  the  coup  d'etat  of  December  2d,  1851,  put  an  end  to  his 
political  career.  In  1837  he  was  entrusted  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States  to  write  a  life  of  Washington,  and  this  work — Vie,  Correspo7idance  et 
Ecrits  de  Washington — was  published  in  1839-40.  This  procured  him  the 
honor  of  having  his  portrait  placed  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
Washington.  He  was  a  very  voluminous  writer,  and  a  list  of  all  his  works 
would  require  too  much  space.  The  work  which  caused  the  most 
astonishment  was  a  publication,  in  1861,  defending  the  temporal  power  of  the 
pope, — a  strange  position  for  a  Protestant.  He  was  thrice  married,  the  first 
two  ladies  being  women  of  literary  ability.  He  died  September  12th,  1874. 


M.  GUIZOT 


ABDEL-RHAMAN. 


ARRAS. 


INDEX. 


Abdel-Rhaman,  32. 

Abelard,  a  Freethinker,  his  struggles  with  the 
Church,  49. 

Academy,  the  French,  founded  by  Richelieu, 
148. 

- ,  the  (see  also  French  Academy ),  and 

Corneille’s  Cid,  149;  and  Racine,  186. 

- of  Sciences,  the,  187  ;  and  Fontenelle, 

238. 

Acadia,  French  colony  of,  and  M.  de  Monts, 
221  ;  and  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  221. 

Acadians,  Emigration  of,  223. 

Adrets,  Baron,  no. 

Aiduans,  the,  15. 

Agincourt,  the  battle  of,  Oct.  25,  141 5,  66. 

Agnadello,  the  battle  of,  between  the  French 
under  Louis  XII.  and  the  Venetians,  1509,  85. 

Aguesseau,  Chancellor  d’,  196. 

Aigues-Mortes,  meeting  at,  97. 

Aiguillon,  the  duke  of,  229,  233. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  residence  of  Charlemagne,  35  ; 
the  Peace  of,  1668,  157 ;  Peace  Congress  and 
Treaty  of  1748,  215. 

Alais,  the  Peace  of,  143. 

Alaric  II.,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  30. 

Alauda,  the,  Julius  Caesar’s  “Wakeful”  Gallic 
Legion,  22. 

Albemarle,  the  duke  of,  169. 

Alberoni,  200  ;  fall  of,  201 

Albigensians,  the,  crusade  against,  50. 

Albret,  Jeanne  d’,  105,  112. 

Alengon,  the  Duke  d’,  114. 

Alesia,  the  town  of,  taken,  27. 

Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  81  ;  and  Louis  XII.,  84. 

Allemanians,  the,  invade  the  settlements  of  the 
Franks,  A.D.  496,  30. 

Allobrogians,  the,  n. 

Almanza,  the  battle  of,  1707,  165. 

Alphonso  II.,  king  of  Naples,  and  Charles 
VIII.,  81. 

Alps,  the,  crossed  by  Francis  I.  and  his  army, 
90. 

Alsace,  150;  restored  to  France,  160. 

Alviano,  Barthelemy  d’,  at  the  battle  of  Agna¬ 
dello,  85. 

Amadeo,  Victor,  duke  of  Savoy,  161,  164,  165. 

Amboise,  Cardinal  d’,  85  ;  death  and  character, 

86. 

- ,  the  Peace  and  Edict  of,  1563,  108, 

hi. 

Ambrons,  the,  and  Teutons,  the,  defeated  by 


the  Romans  under  Marius  at  the  Campi 
Putridi,  102  B.C.,  14,. 

American  Independence,  the  Declaration  of, 
July  4,  1776,  254. 

- Colonies,  the,  independence  of  recog¬ 
nized  by  England,  259. 

- War  of  Independence,  the,  254  et  seq. 

Amsterdam,  gallant  defense  of,  against  Louis 
XIV.,  158. 

Amyot,  James,  146. 

Anastasius,  emperor  of  the  East,  30. 

Ancenis,  the  treaty  of,  1468,  74. 

Ancre,  Marshal  d’  (see  also  Concini ),  death  of, 
I33»  134. 

Anjou,  the  duke  of,  and  Charles  VI.,  64. 

- w-,  Henry,  duke  of,  and  the  massacre 

of  St.  Bartholomew,  1 14  ;  elected  king  of  Po¬ 
land,  1 16;  recalled  from  Poland  to  the  crown 
of  France  as  Henry  III.,  117. 

- ,  the  duke  of,  becomes  Philip  V.  of 

Spain  by  the  will  of  Charles  II.,  163. 

Anne  of  Austria  and  Louis  XIII.,  134;  and  the 
Broussel  affair,  1 51. 

Anne  de  Beaujeu,  government  of,  79,  80. 

Anne  of  Brittany,  marriage  of,  with  Charles 
VIII.,  80;  wife  of  Louis  XII.,  85. 

Anne,  queen  of  England,  and  the  duke  of 
Marlborough,  167. 

Antioch  and  the  Crusaders,  40. 

Antoinette,  Marie,  and  Louis  XVI.,  261  ;  and 
court  intrigues,  261  ;  growing  unpopularity 
of,  262  ;  increase  of  the  popular  feeling  against, 
264. 

Aquae  Sextiae,  battle  near,  14. 

Aquitania  conquered  by  the  Visigoths,  32. 

Aquitanians,  the,  2. 

Arabs,  incursions  of  the,  in  Southern  Gaul,  32. 

Argenson,  Marquis  d’,  and  the  Orleans  Re¬ 
gency,  197;  and  M.  de  Lally,  219;  dismissed 
by  Louis  XV.,  226. 

Arians,  the,  30. 

Ariovistus  is  defeated  by  Julius  Caesar,  16,  17. 

Armagnac,  Count  James  d’,  and  Louis  XI.,  78. 

Armagnacs  and  Burgundians,  civil  war  between 
the,  66. 

Arnaulds,  the,  and  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  178,  179. 

Arnulf,  36. 

Aroet,  Francois  Marie,  see  Voltaire. 

Arques,  battle  of,  gained  by  Henry  IV.,  123. 

Arras,  treaty  at,  in  1482,  between  Louis  XI. 
and  Maximilian  of  Austria,  78. 


XXII 


INDEX. 


ARTOIS. 

Artois,  Count  Robert  of,  commands  the  army 
of  Philip  IV.  raised  to  subdue  the  revolt  in 
Flanders,  and  is  defeated  and  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Courtrai,  55. 

Arvernians,  the,  15. 

Assas,  Chevalier  d’,  heroic  death  of,  230. 

Assembly  of  Notables,  convocation  of  the, 
proposed  by  M.  de  Calonne  (1787),  263. 

Assizes  of  Jerusalem ,  Godfrey  de  Bouillon’s 
Code  of  Laws,  41. 

Ataulph,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  29. 

Attila,  the  famous  Hun  King,  29. 

Audenarde,  the  battle  of,  165. 

Augsburg,  the  league  of,  16 86,  161. 

Augustus,  sole  master  of  the  Roman  world,  22. 

■ - III.  of  Poland,  death  of,  205. 

- - ,  Stanislaus,  of  Poland,  205. 

Auneau,  the  battle  of,  119. 

Auray,  battle  of,  costs  Charles  of  Blois  his  life 
and  the  countship  of  Brittany,  63. 

Aurelius,  Marcus,  persecutes  the  Christians, 
28. 

Austrasia,  kingdom  of,  31. 

Austria  and  France,  commencement  of  the 
rivalry  between,  77. 

• - and  Henry  IV.,  144. 

- ,  Margaret  of  (see  also  Margaret),  78. 

- ,  Anne  of,  wife  of  Louis  XIII.,  150. 

Avaux,  M.  d’,  1 50. 

Avignon,  chosen  as  the  papal  residence  by 
Clement  V.,  57. 

Baldwin  III.,  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  Louis 
VIII.,  42. 

Balue,  Cardinal  de  la,  77. 

Balzac,  148. 

Barbarigo,  doge  of  Venice,  and  Charles  VIII., 
81. 

Barbarossa,  Frederic,  43. 

Barbezieux,  173. 

Barbier,  Advocate,  233. 

Barri,  Godfrey  de,  lord  of  Renaudie,  108. 

Barricades  in  Paris  in  1648,  151. 

Bart,  John,  a  corsair  of  Dunkerque,  exploits  of, 
159. 

Bartholomew,  St.,  the  Massacre  of,  events 
which  led  to,  1 1 3 ;  commencement  of  the 
Massacre  of,  by  the  murder  of  Admiral  Co- 
ligny,  1 1 3. 

Basques,  the,  2. 

Baudricourt  and  Joan  of  Arc,  68. 

Bavaria,  the  duke  of,  gives  his  daughter  Isabel 
in  marriage  to  Charles,  64. 

- .Judith  of,  becomes  the  wife  of  Louis 

the  Debonnair,  36. 

- ,  the  elector  of,  and  the  battle  of 

Blenheim,  164;  claims  to  the  empire,  208; 
made  lieutenant-general  of  the  armies  of 
France,  205  ;  proclaimed  emperor  as  Charles 
VII.,  209. 

Baville,  Lamoignon  de,  177. 

Bayard,  Peter  du  Terrail,  the  Chevalier  de, 
wounded  near  Romagnano ;  death  of  that 


BONIFACE. 

“gentle  knight,  well-beloved  of  every  one,” 
93- 

Beaujeau,  Anne  de,  government  of,  80. 

Beaumarchais  aids  the  Americans  against  Eng¬ 
land,  254. 

- Marriage  de  Figaro,  263. 

Beaumont,  Christopher  de,  archbishop  of  Paris, 
226. 

Beauvais,  siege  of,  by  Charles  the  Rash,  75. 

- ,  the  bishop  of,  and  the  trial  of  Joan  of 

Arc,  70. 

Beauvilliers,  the  duke  of,  180. 

Bedford,  the  duke  of,  regent  of  France,  67. 

Belgian  province,  the,  of  Roman  Gaul,  22. 

Belgians,  the,  2. 

Belle-Isle,  Count,  208. 

- ,  Marshal,  coldly  received  at  Paris, 

210 ;  death  of,  229. 

Belzunce,  Monseigneur  de,  heroic  self-sacrifice 
and  benevolence  of,  during  the  plague  in 
Marseilles,  202. 

Benedict  XI.,  Pope,  and  Philip  IV.  of  France, 
56,  57- 

Bentinck,  earl  of  Portland,  162. 

Bergen-op-Zoom,  captured  1747,  215. 

Bergerac,  the  peace  of,  in  1577,  118. 

Berlin,  captured  and  pillaged  by  the  Russians, 
230. 

Bernard,  Samuel,  174. 

Bernard,  St.,  41  ;  duke  of  Saxe-Weimar,  143. 

Bernis,  Abbe  de,  225  ;  dismissed  by  Louis  XV., 
229. 

Berquin,  Louis  de,  burnt  as  a  heretic,  100. 

Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  63. 

Berry,  the  duke  of,  and  Charles  VI.,  65. 

- ,  the  duchess  of,  death  of,  202. 

Berulle,  Cardinal,  140. 

Berwick,  Marshal,  and  Philip  V.  of  Spain,  165  ; 
gains  the  victory  of  Almanza,  165;  com¬ 
mences  the  campaign  of  1734  against  Aus¬ 
tria,  and  is  killed,  206. 

Beziers,  capture  of,  50. 

Biron,  Marshal  de,  conspiracy  against  Henry 
IV.,  132. 

Black  Plague,  the,  1347-1349,  63. 

Blanche,  queen  of  Castile,  character  of ;  moth¬ 
er  of  St.  Louis,  57. 

Blenheim,  the  battle  of,  1704,  163. 

Blois,  Charles  of,  war  with  John  of  Montfort, 

63- 

- ,  treaty  of,  between  Louis  XII.  and 

Venice,  85. 

Boileau,  186. 

- ,  Stephen,  provost  of  Paris,  53. 

Bolingbroke,  Lord  (see  also  St.  JoJm),  and 
Voltaire,  239. 

Bologna,  meeting  of  Francis  I.  and  Pope  Leo 
II.,  91  ;  siege  of,  raised  by  Gaston  de  Foix, 
87. 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  St.  Louis,  claims  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual*  power  in  the  affairs  of 
Christendom,  55;  and  his  bull,  “  Hear keti, 
most  dear  son  death  of,  56. 


INDEX. 


XXIII 


BONNIVET. 

Bonnivet,  Admiral,  entrusted  by  Francis  1. 
with  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  Italy,  92. 

Bordeaux,  71  ;  revolt  of,  againt  the  Salt  Tax, 
1548,  102. 

Borgia,  Caesar,  81. 

Bossuet,  and  the  works  of  Madame  Guyon,  180  ; 
and  Fenelon,  180;  head  of  the  great  French 
Catholic  party,  1 80 ;  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantes ;  death  of,  181. 

Bouchain,  captured  by  Villars  and  the  French, 
169. 

Boufflers,  Marshal,  162  ;  defends  Lille  against 
Marlborough  and  Eugene,  165  ;  at  Malpla- 
quet,  166. 

Bougainville,  M.  de,  world  circumnavigator, 
262. 

Bouillon,  the  duke  of,  arrested  for  conspiring 
with  Cinq  Mars,  137. 

Bourbon,  Francis  of..  See  Count  d'  Eng  Men. 

■  - ,  Charles,  duke  of,  and  Francis  I.,  90. 

- ,  Charles  II.,  duke  of,  revolt  of,  93 ; 

lays  siege  to  Marseilles,  94 ;  is  repulsed,  and 
has  to  fall  back  on  Italy,  94. 

- ,  Cardinal  Charles  de,  122. 

• - ,  the  duke  of,  and  the  legitimized 

princes,  198. 

- ,  French  colony,  216. 

Bourdaloue,  Father,  death  and  character  of, 
183. 

Bourges  besieged  by  the  Burgundians,  66. 

Bouteville,  M.  de,  executed  for  dueling,  136. 

Bouvines,  battle  of,  won  by  the  French  under 
Philip  II.,  49. 

Breda,  peace  of,  between  England  and  Hol¬ 
land,  156. 

Brescia,  captured  by  Gaston  de  Foix,  87. 

Bretigny,  the  treaty  of,  between  the  English 
and  French,  63. 

- ,  Sire  de,  93. 

Bri^onnet,  William,  100. 

Brienne  and  Louis  XIV.,  155. 

- ,  Lomenie  de,  266. 

Brissac,  Charles  de,  103,  128. 

Brittany,  the  parliament  of,  224. 

■  - ,  Francis  II.  of,  and  Louis  XI.,  74. 

- ,  Anne  of,  wife  of  Louis  XII.,  81. 

Broglie,  Marshal,  230. 

- ,  the  duke  of,  defeated  at  Minden,  229. 

Broussel,  arrest  of,  1 5 1 . 

Brunswick,  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  of,  defeats 
Count  Clermont  at  Crevelt,  228  ;  defeats  the 
French  at  Minden,  229. 

Brussels,  captured  by  Marshal  Saxe,  212. 

Buffon,  243,  244. 

■  - ,  Count  de,  death  of,  in  the  Revolu¬ 

tion,  244. 

Burgundy,  kingdom  of,  29. 

- ,  the  dukes  of,  and  Charles  VI.,  65. 

- ,  Philip  the  Bold,  duke  of,  and  Charles 

VI.,  65. 

- - ,  Duke  John  the  Fearless  of,  murders 

the  duke  of  Orleans,  65  ;  returns  and  be¬ 
comes  master  of  Paris,  66. 


CATHERINE. 

Burgundy,  Charles  the  Rash,  duke  of,  and 
Louis  XI.,  73 ;  and  the  siege  of  Beauvais, 
75  ;  and  the  English  in  France,  75  ;  defeated 
by  the  Swiss  at  Morat,  76  ;  defeated  and  killed 
at  the  battle  of  Nancy,  77. 

- ,  the  duke  of,  takes  command  of  the 

French  army  in  Flanders,  165  ;  death  of,  167. 

- ,  the  duchess  of,  and  Louis  XIV.,  190. 

Burgundians,  the,  29  ;  and  Armagnacs,  civil  war 
between  the,  66  ;  obtain  possession  of  Paris, 
66. 

Bussy,  M.  de,  218,  219. 

Bute,  Lord,  and  Mr.  Pitt,  230;  demands  the 
destruction  of  Dunkerque,  231. 

Caesar  Borgia,  81. 

- ,  Julius,  and  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  15  ; 

defeats  the  Helvetians;  B.C.  58,  16;  defeats 
the  Germans  who  had  invaded  Gaul  under 
Ariovistus,  17,  defeats  the  Gauls  under  Ver- 
cingetorix,  20;  encloses  eighty  thousand 
Gallic  insurgents  under  Vercingetorix  in  the 
town  of  Alesia,  21. 

Calais  captured  from  the  English  by  Duke  de 
Guise,  1558,  62;  and  the  treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis,  104. 

Calas,  241  ;  the  persecution  of  the,  and  Voltaire, 
204. 

Calixtus  III.,  Pope,  rehabilitates  Joan  of  Arc, 
7i. 

Calonne,  M.  de,  made  comptroller-general  by 
Louis  XVI.,  261  ;  extravagant  measures  of, 
262 ;  proposes  to  convoke  the  assembly  of 
notables,  263. 

Calvin,  101  ;  Christia?i  Institutes ,  101,  146. 

Cambrai,  the  league  of,  85  ;  the  peace  of,  1529, 
100 ;  captured,  1 59. 

Camisards,  revolt  of  the,  178,  179. 

Canada,  early  French  settlements  in,  220;  and 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  222 ;  abandoned  by 
France,  223. 

Canadians,  the  French,  221  ;  character  of,  221  ; 
devotion  and  courage  of,  222. 

Canals,  the,  of  Languedoc  and  Orleans,  171. 

Cape  Breton,  captured  by  the  English,  1745, 
222. 

Capet,  Hugh,  and  feudal  France,  39;  has  his 
son  Robert  crowned  with  him,  death  of,  A.  D. 
996,  39. 

Captal  of  Buch,  capture  of,  63. 

Carcassonne,  50. 

Carloman,  son  of  Pepin  the  Short,  33. 

Carlovingian  line,  establishment  of,  a.d.  814,  35; 
fall  of  the,  A.D.  937,  39. 

Cartier,  James,  220. 

Cassel,  60,  159. 

Castelnaudary,  battle  of,  137. 

Castries,  Marshal  de,  230,  258. 

Cateau-Cambresis,  treaty  of,  1559,  104. 

Catherine  de  Medici.  See  Medici. 

- ,  Princess,  daughter  of  Charles  VI.,  of¬ 
fered  in  marriage  to  Henry  V.  of  England, 
67. 


XXIV 


INDEX. 


CATHERINE. 

Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  232  ;  and  Voltaire,  241 
Catholics,  the,  and  the  edict  of  Nantes,  129. 
Catinat,  161,  163. 

Cauchon,  Peter,  bishop  of  Beauvais,  and  Joan 
of  Arc,  70. 

Cavalier,  the  Camisard,  178. 

Cellamare’s  conspiracy,  198,  199. 

Celts,  the,  2. 

Ceresole,  victory  of  the  French  over  the  imperial 
forces  at,  1 544,  98. 

Cerignola,  battle  of,  between  the  French  and 
Spaniards,  1503,  84. 

Cevennes,  ruins  in  the,  178. 

Chabannes,  Philip  of,  Count  de  Dampmartin. 

See  Dampmartin. 

Chalais,  count  of,  136. 

Chalons,  the  battle  of,  between  the  Franks  and 
Huns,  in  which  the  latter  are  defeated,  29. 
Chalotais,  M.  de  la,  233 
Chamillard,  163,  166,  174. 

Champagne,  Philip  of,  188. 

Champlain,  Samuel  de,  221,  222. 
Chandernugger,  French  colony,  219;  restored 
to  the  French,  223. 

Charlemagne,  sole  king  of  the  Gallo-Franco- 
Germanic  monarchy,  A.D.  771,  31  ;  sum¬ 
mary  of  the  wars  of,  33 ;  invades  Lombardy, 
34 ;  enters  Rome,  A.D.  800,  45 ;  invades 
Spain,  34;  death  of,  on  Jan.  28,  814,  35. 
Charles  III.  of  Austria,  165. 

- of  Blois,  63. 

- the  Bald,  son  of  Louis  the  Debon- 

nair,  37. 

- the  Dauphin  re-enters  Paris,  62. 

- the  Fat,  36,  37. 

- ,  son  of  Pepin  the  Short,  33. 

- the  Rash.  See  Burgundy. 

- the  Simple,  A.D.  898,  36. 

- II.  of  Spain  and  the  claimants  to  his 

kingdom,  163. 

- - III.  of  Spain  and  Louis  XV.,  treaty 

between,  1761,  231. 

- IV.,  called  the  Handsome,  58. 

- V.  of  France,  62  ;  the  Fifth’s  brothers 

and  sisters,  63  ;  death  of,  1 380,  64  ;  character 
of,  170,  64. 

- V.,  emperor  of  Germany,  and  Francis 

I.,  92  ;  and  the  commencement  of  the  war 
with  France,  92 ;  and  Charles  II.  of  Bourbon, 
92  ;  and  his  prisoner  Francis  I.,  95  ;  demands 
the  duchy  of  Burgundy  of  Francis  I.,  96  ;  and 
the  Holy  League,  98  ;  and  the  treaty  of  Cam- 
brai,  97  ;  enters  Provence  with  fifty  thousand 
men  in  1536,  97;  and  Francis  I.,  treaty  and 
meeting  between,  1 538, 97  ;  and  Henry  VIII.  of 
England,  treaty  between,  1 543,  97  ;  and  F rancis 
L,  renewal  of  war  between,  1542-1544,  97; 
invades  France,  and  forces  terms  on  Francis 
I.,  97  ;  and  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany, 
97;  at  the  siege  of  Metz,  103;  captures 
Therouanne,  103;  abdication  of,  103;  and 
the  capture  of  Saint  Quentin,  104. 

• - VI.  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy;  minority ; 


CINQ-MARS. 

of  France  invades  Flanders  ;  enters  Paris  ;  and 
the  Princess  Isabel  of  Bavaria,  64 ;  and  the 
civil  war  between  the  Armagnacs  and  Bur¬ 
gundians,  66  ;  and  Odette,  65  ;  by  the  treaty 
of  Troyes,  leaves  the  crown  of  France  to  Hen¬ 
ry  V.  of  England ;  death  of,  67. 

Charles  VII.,  67  ;  and  Joan  of  Arc,  68 ;  coro¬ 
nation  of,  at  Reims,  69 ;  remorse  for  the 
death  of  Joan  of  Arc,  71  ;  renders  tardy  hom¬ 
age  to  the  memory  and  fame  of  Joan  of  Arc, 
71;  and  Jacques  Coeur,  character  of,  72; 
troubles  with  his  son,  71  ;  death  of,  73. 

- Emperor,  169;  death  of,  208. 

- VIII.,  78;  and  the  States-General  of 

1484,  80;  and  duke  Louis  of  Orleans,  81; 
marriage  of,  which  Anne  of  Brittany,  81  ; 
prepares  to  win  back  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
81  ;  enters  Italy,  81  ;  and  Pope  Alexander  VI., 
81  ;  enters  Rome  1495,  and  Naples,  81 ;  league 
of  the  Italian  princes  against,  81  ;  starts  to 
return  to  F ranee  ;  wins  the  battle  of  F ornovo 
and  returns  to  France,  82;  government  of, 
death  of,  83. 

-  IX.  and  the  religious  wars,  1560- 

1574,  accession  of,  109;  and  the  St.  Barthol¬ 
omew,  1 14;  and  the  battle  of  Dreux,  no; 
and  the  Huguenots,  112;  and  the  marriage 
of  Marguerite  de  Valois  and  the  prince  of 
Navarre,  113;  and  Coligny,  113;  the  Guises 
and  Coligny,  1 14  ;  and  the  murder  of  Coligny, 

1 14  ;  and  Michel  de  l’Hospital,  115  ;  and  the 
fourth  religious  war,  1 1 5  ;  and  the  peace  of 
La  Rochelle,  116;  death  of,  1574,  116. 

Charolais,  Count  Charles  of,  and  Louis  XI., 
74- 

Chastel,  John,  attempts  to  murder  Henry  IV., 
128. 

Chatelet,  Madame  du,  and  Voltaire,  21 1. 

Chatham,  Lord  (see  also  Pitt),  230. 

Chevert,  210. 

Chevreuse,  the  duke  of,  180. 

Childeric,  king  of  the  Franks,  31. 

Chiverny,  Chancellor  de,  127. 

Choiseul,  the  duke  of,  ministry  of,  229  ;  attempt 
to  invade  England  defeated,  229;  and  the 
Family  Pact,  230  ;  dismissed  by  Louis  XV., 
232. 

Christian  zeal  superior  to  pagan  persecution, 
28. 

Christianity,  establishment  of,  in  Gaul,  27  ;  rise 
of,  28 ;  influence  of,  on  the  order  of  knight¬ 
hood,  and,  through  it,  on  civilization  in  gen¬ 
eral,  40. 

Christians,  persecution  of,  by  Marcus  Aurelius, 
A.D.  1 77,  28,  29;  the,  expected  the  end  of 
the  world  A.D.  1000,  39. 

Church  and  State  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIII., 
and  Richelieu,  140. 

Cimbrians,  or  Kymrians,  the,  and  the  Teutons 
driven  from  their  homes  on  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  ;  invade  Gaul  by  the  way  of  Belgica, 
no  B.C.,  2,  4. 

Cinq-Mars,  M.  de,  favorite  of  Louis  XIII.,  137. 


INDEX. 


XXV 


CITEAUX. 

Citeaux,  twelve  abbots  and  twenty  monks  of 
Citeaux  disperse  themselves  in  all  directions, 
preaching  the  crusade  against  the  Albigen- 
sians,  50. 

Claude,  the  princess,  of  France,  daughter  of 
Louis  XII.,  and  Charles  of  Austria,  85. 

Clement,  James,  stabs  King  Henry  III.,  121. 

- -  V.,  Pope,  and  Philip  IV.  abolish  the 

order  of  the  Templars;  death  of,  57. 

- VII.,  Pope,  97. 

- VIII.,  Pope,  absolves  Henry  IV.,  129  ; 

annuls  the  marriage  of  Henry  IV.  with  Mar¬ 
guerite  of  Valois,  1 31. 

Clermont,  Count,  beaten  at  Crevelt,  228. 

Clive,  “  a  heaven-born  general,”  217  ;  his  early 
successes  against  the  French  and  their  Indian 
allies  ;  returns  to  India  and  conquers  Bengal, 
218. 

Closter-Severn,  the  convention  of  1757,  227. 

Clotairel.  of  Soissons,  31. 

- II.  of  Soissons,  31. 

Clovis,  king  of  the  Salian  Franks,  and  Clotilde, 
marriage  of  ;  at  the  battle  of  Tolbiac ;  baptism 
of,  30 ;  makes  Paris  the  center  of  his  domin¬ 
ions,  31  ;  death  of,  in  a.d.  51  i,  31. 

Clovis  III.,  31. 

Code  Michau ,  140. 

Coeur  de  Lion,  Richard,  in  the  Holy  Land,  41, 43. 

- ,  Jacques,  a  great  merchant  and  states¬ 
man,  72. 

Cognac,  Francis  I.  at,  in  1527,  96. 

Colbert,  M.,  155  ;  and  Louis  XIV.,  able  adminis¬ 
tration  of,  1 7 1,  172;  literary  taste  and  work 
of,  187. 

Coligny,  Admiral  de,  and  the  Reformation, 
102;  influence  with  Charles  IX.,  111  ;  at¬ 
tempted  murder  of,  113,  114. 

College  Royal,  the,  99. 

Collona,  Sciarra,  and  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  56. 

Common  weal ,  war  of  the,  against  Louis  XI.,  73. 

Communes,  and  the  third  estate,  rise  of  the, 
58,  59- 

Commynes,  Philip  de,  quoted,  72  ;  and  Louis 

XI.,  75. 

Compagnie  des  Indes,  Law’s,  197. 

Concini,  Concino,  132  ;  see  Marshal  d'Ancre. 

Concordat ,  the,  between  Pope  Leo  X.  and 
Francis  I.,  91. 

Conde,  Prince  Louis  de,  105,  108  ;  trial  of,  sen¬ 
tenced  to  death,  108  ;  taken  prisoner  at  Dreux, 
no;  death  of,  at  Jarnac,  112. 

- ,  the  duke  of  Enghien,  prince  of,  at 

the,  157;  and  the  Frondeurs,  152,  153;  ar¬ 
rested  ;  taken  back  to  favor  by  Louis  XIV., 
and  to  all  his  honors,  1 54 ;  placed  by  Louis 
XIV.  in  command  of  the  army  to  be  employ¬ 
ed  in  the  reduction  of  the  Netherlands,  com¬ 
mands  the  French  army  in  Holland;  gains 
the  bloody  battle  of  Seneffe  over  the  prince 
of  Orange,  1674,  158;  and  Bossuet,  182. 

Conflans,  Lord  de,  assassinated,  61. 

- ,  the  marquis  of,  defeated  by  Admiral 

Hawke,  229. 


DENIS. 

Conflans,  treaty  of,  between  Louis  XI.  and  the 
count  of  Charolais,  74. 

Conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans,  40. 

Conrad  III.,  emperor  of  Germany,  arrives  at 
the  Holy  City  almost  alone,  42. 

Constantine,  the  emperor,  27,  29. 

Constantinople,  in  danger  from  the  Crusaders, 
41. 

Contades,  the  marquis  of,  229. 

Cook,  Captain,  and  the  generous  attitude  of  the 
French  toward  his  mission,  262. 

Coote,  Colonel,  captures  Bussy,  219;  captures 
Pondicherry,  220. 

Corneille,  Peter,  186;  and  Richelieu,  149;  his 
Cid ,  149;  works  of,  185 

Corsica,  and  Pascal  Paoli,  235 

Cosse,  Marshal  de,  199. 

Courtrai,  battle  of,  in  which  the  French  are  de¬ 
feated  by  the  Flemings,  55. 

Coysevox,  188. 

Crequi,  Marshal  de,  subdues  Lorraine,  160. 

Crevelt,  battle  of,  228. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  and  Mazarin,  treaty  between, 
and  English  aid  to  France,  153. 

Crusade,  the,  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  40 ;  of 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  and  Frederic  Barbarossa  of  Ger¬ 
many,  43 ;  end  of  the  third  great,  43 ;  the 
sixth,  the  personal  achievement  of  St.  Louis, 
44 ;  of  St.  Louis,  end  of,  46. 

Crusaders  and  Saladin,  43. 

Culloden,  battle  of,  213. 

Dagobert  I.,  31. 

D’Aguesseau,  character  of ;  appointed  chancel¬ 
lor,  196. 

D’Aiguillon,  the  duke  of,  229,  233. 

D’Alembert,  243. 

Damiens  attempts  to  assassinate  Louis  XV., 
226. 

Damietta  captured  by  St.  Louis,  44. 

Dampierre,  Guy  de,  count  of  Flanders,  54. 

Dantzick,  siege  of,  206. 

D’Argenson,  M.,  197. 

D’Asfeldt,  Count,  and  the  campaign  of  1734, 
206. 

D’Aubigne,  Theodore  Agrippa;  character  of, 

131. 

Daun,  General,  defeats  the  Prussians  at  Hoch- 
kirch,  228. 

Dauphin,  the,  and  Edward  III.,  and  the  Eng¬ 
lish,  61. 

- ,  the,  son  of  Charles  VI.,  assumes  the 

title  of  regent,  61. 

- ,  the,  son  of  Louis  XV.,  character  and 

death  of,  235. 

Dauphiny,  the  parliament  of,  266. 

D’Emery,  151. 

Deffand,  Madame  du,  244. 

De  Luynes,  Constable,  135,  136. 

Denain,  captured  by  Villars  and  the  French; 
effects  of  the  battle  of,  169. 

Denis,  Saint,  127. 


XXVI 


INDEX. 


D’EPERNON.  1 

D’Epernon,  128,  133. 

De  Richemont,  the  Constable,  his  character  and 
part  in  the  successes  of  France  at  the  close  of 
the  one  hundred  years’  war,  71,  72, 

Descartes,  Rene,  life,  character,  and  works  of, 
147. 

Desmarets,  174. 

De  Thou,  1 1 5,  121,  128,  137. 

Dettingen,  the  battle  of,  no. 

Diderot,  242,  243. 

Didier,  king  of  Lombardy,  34. 

Domremy,  native  place  of  Joan  of  Arc,  68. 

Douai,  captured  by  Villars  and  the  French, 
169. 

Dreux,  results  of  the  battle  of,  no. 

Dreux-Breze,  the  marquis  of,  270. 

Druidism,  the  national  religion  of  the  Gauls,  28. 

Dubarry,  Madame,  and  Louis  XV.,  234 ;  and 
the  fall  of  the  French  parliament,  234;  grow¬ 
ing  contempt  of  her  by  the  people,  234. 

Dubois,  Abbe,  character  of,  199;  and  Lord 
Stanhope,  199;  how  he  became  archbishop 
of  Cambrai,  202 ;  elected  Cardinal,  202 ; 
becomes  premier  minister  of  the  Orleans 
regency ;  death  and  character,  202  ;  and  the 
Protestants,  204. 

Dubourg,  A.  De,  martyrdom  of,  107. 

Duels,  severe  ordinance  against,  136. 

Dunkerque,  destruction  of,  demanded  by  Pitt, 
and  by  Lord  Bute,  231. 

Dunois  and  the  maid  of  Orleans,  69. 

Dupleix,  Joseph,  216. 

Duplessis  Guenegaud  and  Louis  XIV.,  155. 

Du  Plessis-Mornay,  130,  133. 

Duprat,  Anthony,  and  Francis  I.,  90;  and  the 
Concordat,  91  ;  death  of,  97. 

Duquesne  and  Admiral  Ruyter,  1 59 ;  bom¬ 
bards  Algiers  and  Genoa,  161. 

Duras,  Marshal,  161. 

Dutch,  the,  declare  war  against  England,  257. 

Ecouen,  the  edict  of,  106. 

Edict  chamber,  the,  129. 

- - of  Nantes,  the  (see  also  Nantes),  is¬ 
sued  by  Henry  IV.,  129;  revoked  by  Louis 
XIV.,  1685,  161,  175. 

- of  Grace ,  the,  signed  at  Alais,  143. 

- of  Union ,  the,  151. 

- of  1724,  the,  against  the  Protestants, 

204. 

Edward  the  Black  Prince,  death  of,  63. 

- III.  of  England,  58  ;  war  with  Philip 

VI.  of  France,  60  ;  and  his  prisoner,  King  John 
of  France,  62  ;  again  invades  France,  declares 
war  with  Charles  V.,  61  ;  death  of,  63. 

- IV.  of  England’s  claims  on  F ranee,  74. 

Elizabeth,  queen  of  England,  and  the  treaty  of 
Cateau-Cambresis,  104;  death  of,  130. 

- ,  Madame,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  261. 

Encyclopaedists,  the,  242,  243. 

Enghien,  Francis  of  Bourbon,  Count  d’,  98. 

- ,  the  duke  of,  and  the  relief  of  Rocroi, 


FERDINAND. 

England,  conquest  of,  by  William  the  Bastard, 
1066,  40. 

- and  Flanders  in  the  13th  century,  48; 

and  France,  origin  of  the  Hundred  Years’  War 
between,  58;  and  France,  outbreak  of  war 
between,  in  1512,  87;  and  the  revolt  of  La 
Rochelle,  1 1 5  ;  and  Holland,  alliance  between, 
at  the  marriage  of  William  of  Orange  and 
the  Princess  Mary,  1677,  159;  and  France 
declare  war  with  Spain,  1719,  201  ;  and  the 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  1748,  205;  rise  of 
her  power  in  America,  and  decline  of  that  of 
France,  222;  and  France,  war  between,  in 
1756,  225  ;  French  attempt  to  invade,  in  1759, 
defeated  by  Admiral  Hawke,  229 ;  declares 
war  with  Spain,  1 762 ;  and  the  partition  of 
Poland,  1772,  236 ;  and  the  American  War  of 
Independence,  253  et  seg.  ;  and  France,  com¬ 
mencement  of  war  between,  1778,  255 ; 
threatened  invasion  of,  by  France  and  Spain, 
256;  at  war  with  France,  Spain,  and  Amer¬ 
ica,  declares  war  against  Holland,  257. 

English,  the,  and  Marcel,  61  ;  defeated  by 
Joan  of  Arc,  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  68  ; 
evacuate  Paris,  71  ;  and  France  under  Louis 

XI. ,  74;  invade  France  under  Henry  VIII., 
and  take  Boulogne,  87  ;  and  Philip  II.  of 
Spain  invade  France  ;  expedition  against  La 
Rochelle  defeated,  142  ;  and  the  battle  of 
Fontenoy,  212. 

Epernon,  the  duke  of,  122,  133. 

Epinay,  Madame  d’,  and  Rousseau,  245. 

Escurial,  the,  1 29. 

Espremesnil,  M.  d’,  265. 

Estates-General,  assembled  at  Paris,  56. 

- ,  the  three,  of  1468,  58. 

Estaing,  Count  d’,  commands  the  French 
fleet  sent  to  aid  the  Americans,  255. 

Estelle,  Sheriff,  and  the  plague  in  Marseilles,  202. 

Estienne,  Robert  (Stephanus),  146. 

Estrees,  Gabrielle  d’,  131. 

- ,  Marshal  d’,  commander  of  the  French 

army  at  the  commencement  of  the  Seven 
Years’  War,  repulses  the  duke  of  Cumberland, 
226. 

Eudes,  duke  of  Aquitania,  32. 

- ,  count  of  Paris,  defends  Paris  against 

the  Northmen,  36. 

Eugene,  Prince,  of  Savoy-Carignano,  161  ;  and 
Marlborough,  163;  and  Villeroi,  163,  164; 
and  the  battle  of  Malplaquet,  166;  and  the 
campaign  of  1734,  206. 

Family  Pact ,  the,  between  France  and  Spain, 
1761,  231. 

Farel,  William,  100. 

Farnese,  Alexander.  See  Parma. 

Fenelon,  Bossuet,  and  Madame  Guyon,  175; 
birth  of,  1651,  and  early  life  of,  183;  made 
preceptor  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  his  Tett- 
7naque,  183  ;  death  of,  183. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic  of  Spain  and  Louis 

XII. ,  86,  87,  90. 


150. 


INDEX. 


XXVII 


FERDINAND. 

Ferdinand  II.  of  Naples  and  Charles  VIII.,  81. 

Feria,  duke  of,  leaves  Paris  with  the  Spanish 
troops,  128. 

Feudal  France  and  Hugh  Capet,  39. 

- system,  the  essential  elements  of  the, 

38. 

- society  and  Louis  XI.,  73. 

Feudalism  in  France,  38. 

Flanders  submits  to  Philip  IV.,  54  ;  and  Charles 
IX.  of  France,  1 13. 

Fleet,  the  French,  and  Colbert,  128;  under 
Louis  XV.,  225. 

Fleix,  the  peace  of,  in  1 580,  1 18. 

Fleurus,  battle  of,  1690,  162. 

Fleury’s,  Cardinal,  ministry,  1723-1748,  205; 
commencement  of  his  fostering  administra¬ 
tion,  206 ;  concludes  the  peace  of  Vienna, 
1735,  207;  and  the  parliament  of  Paris,  207  ; 
death  and  character  of,  210. 

Fleury,  M.  Joly  de,  246. 

Florence,  the  republic  of,  and  Charles  VIII.,  81. 

Floridas,  the,  confirmed  to  Spain,  223. 

Foix,  Gaston  de,  duke  of  Nemours,  takes 
command  of  the  French  army  in  Italy,  1512, 
86 ;  death  of,  at  the  victory  of  Ravenna,  87. 

Fontaine,  La  (see  also  La  Fontaine),  186. 

Fontaine  Frangaise,  encounter  at,  129. 

Fontainebleau,  peace  of,  1762,  231. 

Fontenelles,  battle  of,  37. 

Fontenelle,  character  and  works  of,  238. 

Fontenoy,  the  battle  of,  212. 

Fontrailes,  Viscount  de,  13 71 

Fornovo,  the  battle  of,  1495,  in  which  Charles 
VIII.  of  France  defeats  the  army  of  the  Ital¬ 
ian  league,  82. 

Fouquet,  Superintendent,  and  Louis  XIV.,  155, 
170. 

France,  kingdom  and  history  of,  really  com¬ 
menced  with  Clovis,  A.D.,  481,  30;  and  Eng¬ 
land,  origin  of  the  “  rivalry  ”  between,  60 ; 
the  kingship  in,  47-56 ;  and  England,  orig¬ 
in  of  the  Hundred  Years’  War  between,  58; 
and  England,  end  of  the  Hundred  Years’ 
War  between,  71  ;  under  Charles  VII.,  72; 
and  Austria,  commencement  of  the  rivalry 
between,  85;  invaded,  88;  and  England, 
renewal  of  the  war  between,  1512,  87;  the 
situation  of,  in  1513,  88;  and  the  Renais¬ 
sance,  90-99 ;  and  the  nascent  reformation, 
99;  and  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  104; 
state  of,  at  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  107  ;  condition  of,  after  Henry 
IV.’s  abjuration,  127;  and  England,  treaty 
between,  in  1697,  162  ;  and  sufferings  of,  dur¬ 
ing  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  1 72  ;  and  England 
declare  war  with  Spain,  1719,  201  ;  and  the 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  1748,  215  ;  inability 
of,  to  turn  her  discoveries  in  foreign  lands  to 
her  own  profit,  222  ;  leaves  Canada  to  her 
fate,  223 ;  position  of,  at  the  end  of  the  Seven 
Years’  War,  235  ;  and  the  partition  of  Poland, 
1772,  236  ;  the  effects  of  Voltaire’s  writings  on, 
242  ;  and  the  American  War  of  Independ- 


FREDERICK. 

ence,  253 ;  and  England  and  the  American 
War  of  Independence,  254  ;  recognizes  the  in¬ 
dependence  of  the  United  States,  1778,  and 
declares  war  with  England,  255  ;  and  the  peace 
between  England  and  America,  1783,  259  ;  on 
the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  264. 

Francis  I.,  89  ;  and  Charles  V.,  90;  the  era  of 
modern  France  commences  with  his  govern¬ 
ment  and  times,  89 ;  made  king,  89 ;  prepares  to 
invade  Italy,  90;  and  his  army  cross  the  Alps, 
and  the  battle  of  Melegnano,  90  ;  regains  pos¬ 
session  of  Milaness,  91  ;  Pope  Leo  X.,  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  91,  92;  and  the  Con¬ 
cordat,  and  the  parliament  of  Paris’  refusal, 
to  acknowledge  the  Concordat,  92 ;  and  the 
vacant  throne  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian, 
92 ;  and  Charles  of  Austria,  commencement 
of  the  struggle  between,  92  ;  meets  Henry 
VIII.  of  England  at  The  Field  of  the  Cloth 
of  Gold,  92  ;  commences  war  with  Charles  V. 
92  ;  and  Charles  II.  of  Bourbon,  93  ;  and  the 
conspiracy  of  Charles  II.  of  Bourbon,  93 ; 
entrusts  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  Italy  to 
Admiral  Bonnivet,  93 ;  loses  Milaness  for  the 
third  time,  94 ;  advances  to  the  relief  of 
Marseilles,  94;  enters  Italy,  1524,  95;  brav¬ 
ery  and  capture  at  the  battle  of  Pavia,  95  ; 
his  letters  to  his  mother  after  his  defeat  and 
capture  at  Pavia,  95 ;  carried  prisoner  to 
Spain,  95  ;  refuses  to  accede  to  the  terms  of 
Charles  V.  of  Germany,  96 ;  set  at  liberty, 
enters  into  the  Holy  League,  96 ;  and  Henry 
VIII.  of  England  renew  their  alliance,  96; 
makes  peace  with  Charles  V.  at  Cambria,  97  ; 
and  Duprat,  97;  and  Henry  VIII.,  meeting 
and  treaty  between,  1532,  97;  and  Soliman, 
II.,  treaty  between,  98  ;  and  Charles  V.,  war 
renewed  between,  from  1 542  to  1 544,  98 ; 
forced  to  terms  by  Charles  V.  of  Germany, 
98 ;  and  the  Renaissance,  98 ;  and  the  Col¬ 
lege  Royal,  or  College  de  France,  99  ;  and 
the  Reformation,  99 ;  and  the  reformers,  100  ; 
and  the  Protestants  of  Germany,  101 ;  and  the 
massacre  of  the  Vaudians,  101  ;  and  Calvin, 
101  ;  death  of,  1547,  101 ;  and  the  salt-tax  at 
Rochelle,  102. 

Francis  I.,  emperor  of  Germany  212. 

- II.  and  Mary  Stuart,  marriage  of,  104; 

ascends  the  throne,  106;  and  the  reformers, 
107,  108  ;  and  the  Guises,  107  ;  and  the  king 
of  Navarre,  108 ;  death  of,  and  the  Guises 
109. 

Franks,  the,  first  mention  of  in  history  29. 

Frederick  Barbarossa  (Redbeard),  joins  in  a 
new  crusade,  43 ;  drowned  in  the  Selef  .on 
his  way  to  the  Holy  Land,  43. 

- the  Great,  208 ;  commences  the  Silesian 

campaign,  1 740,  208  ;  signs  a  new  treaty  with 
France,  1744,  208;  and  the  battle  of  Fon¬ 
tenoy,  212;  and  Louis  XV.,  212;  and  the 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  215  ;  England,  and 
the  Franco- Austrian  alliance,  225  ;  victori¬ 
ous  at  Prague,  and  defeated  at  Kolin  226  ,• 


XXVIII 


INDEX. 


FRENCH. 

reverses  of,  227  ;  gains  the  battle  of  Rosbach 
228  ;  defeats  the  Austrians  at  Lissa,  228 ; 
gains  the  battle  of  Zorndorf,  and  loses  that 
of  Hochkirch,  228  ;  reverses  of,  in  1760,  230 ; 
finds  an  ally  in  Peter  III.  of  Russia,  231  ;  and 
the  end  of  the  Seven  Years'  War ,  232  ;  and 
the  partition  of  Poland,  236;  invites  Voltaire 
to  Berlin,  240. 

French,  the,  rise  out  of  and  above  the  feudal 
system,  49  ;  and  English,  commencement  of 
hostilities  between,  in  1292,  54. 

- Communes,  the,  57-59. 

- civilization,  The  Third  Estate ,  the  most 

active  and  determined  element  in  the  process 
of  French  civilization,  59. 

- nationality  accomplished,  60. 

- language,  the,  and  the  Renaissance,  99. 

- Academy,  early  days  of  the,  148;  and 

Montesquieu,  237  ;  elects  Buffon,  244. 

- reformers,  the,  and  Louis  XIV.,  177. 

- court,  demoralization  of,  under  Louis 

XV.,  203. 

- pioneers,  the  earliest  in  North  America, 

220,  221. 

- Guiana,  235. 

Fronde,  the,  151;  of  the  princes  of  France  and 
of  the  people,  1 52 ;  the  army  of,  fighting 
between,  and  the  royal  troops  ;  defeat  of, 

1 53- 

Frondeurs,  the,  152,  153. 

Gabel,  or  the  salt-tax,  102. 

Gaeta,  siege  of,  1 504,  84. 

Galatiens,  the,  7. 

Galigai,  Leonora,  133. 

Gallia  Comata,  22. 

- Togata,  or  Roman  Gaul,  22. 

Gallican  confession,  the,  105. 

Garonne,  the  river,  2. 

Gaul,  2  ;  conquered  by  Julius  Caesar,  17,  18  ; 
under  Roman  dominion,  10. 

Gauls,  the,  3  ;  and  Greeks  of  Asia  Minor  in 
subjection,  6  ;  commence  their  four  hundred 
years’  war  with  Rome,  B.C.  391,  7;  defeat 
the  Romans  at  Aretium,  283  B.C.,  8. 

Genoa,  defense  of,  by  the  duke  of  Boufflers, 
214;  cedes  Corsica  to  France,  1768,  235. 

George  I.  of  England  and  Dubois,  200. 

- II.  of  England  and  the  Pragmatic 

Sanction,  209;  and  the  war  with  France, 
1744,  210;  death  of,  1760,  230. 

- III.  of  England,  230,  255,  257,  259. 

Geoffrin,  Madame,  244. 

Germans,  the  ancient,  first  became  a  nation  in 
Gaul,  29. 

Germany  joins  in  the  Crusades,  41. 

Ghent,  alliance  at,  in  1340,  between  the  Flem¬ 
ish  Communes  and  Edward  III.  of  England, 
60;  insurrection  of  the  burghers  of,  under 
Philip  Van  Artevelde,  74;  captured  bv  Louis 
XIV.,  159. 

Gibraltar,  258.  • 

Girardon,  188. 


HELVETIANS. 

God's  Peace,  God's  Truce,  39. 

Godeheu,  M.,  supersedes  Dupleix,  218. 

Godfrey  de  Bouillon  (see  Bouillon ),  duke  of 
Lorraine,  accepts  the  office  of  king  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  41. 

Gondebaud,  30. 

Gontran  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  31. 

Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  the  great  captain  of 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  84. 

Goodfellows,  the,  62. 

Gordes,  the  Count  de,  115. 

Goths,  the,  under  Alaric  II.,  beaten  by  Clovis 
near  Poitiers,  a.d.  507,  30. 

Graeco-Roman  paganism,  28. 

Grailli,  John  de,  called  the  captal  of  Buch,  63. 

Grand  Allia?ice,  the,  against  France  and  Louis 
XIV.,  159,  164. 

Grand  M’onarque,  190. 

Great  Britain  and  the  American  declaration  of 
independence,  1776,  255. 

- Mogul,  the,  217. 

Gregory  XIV.,  Pope,  123. 

Gretry,  musician,  248. 

Grignan,  Madame  de,  and  Madame  de  Sevigne, 
184,  185. 

Grisons,  the,  144. 

Guastalla,  the  battle  of,  207. 

Guesclin,  Bertrand  du,  63  ;  death  of,  64. 

Guinegate,  battle  of,  77. 

Guise,  106, 

- ,  Francis  de  Lorraine,  duke  of,  102;  and 

the  siege  of  Metz,  103 ;  recalled  from  Italy  by 
Henry  II.  to  repel  the  Spaniards,  104;  cap¬ 
tured  Calais,  104;  Conde,  105;  and  the 
Huguenots  of  Vassy,  109  ;  assassination  of, 
1 10. 

- ,  Duke  Henry  de,  117  ;  obtains  his  name 

of  The  Scarred, .  while  putting  down  the 
Protestant  revolt,  118;  becomes  master  of 
Paris,  1 19  ;  murdered  by  order  of  Henry,  120. 

Guises,  the,  and  the  death  of  Francis  II.,  109; 
and  the  Catholic  party  declare  war  against 
Conde  and  the  Protestants,  1 10 ;  and  Coligny, 
1 13;  and  the  murder  of  Coligny,  114;  and 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  118. 

Guiton,  John,  burgess  of  La  Rochelle  at  the 
time  of  the  siege  by  Louis  XIII.,  142. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Richelieu,  144,  145. 

Guyon,  Madame,  teachings  and  works  of,  175, 
176. 

Harlay,  Francis  de,  and  Innocent  XI., 
1 8 1 . 

Haro,  Don  Louis  de,  ambassador  to  France, 
of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  154. 

Hastence  of  Hastings,  chieftain  of  the  North¬ 
men,  ravages  France,  36. 

Hautefort,  Marie  d’,  and  Louis  XIII.,  137. 

Hawke,  Admiral,  229. 

Helvetians,  abandon  their  territory,  58  B.C.,  but 
are  thwarted  in  their  project  of  settling  in 
Gaul  by  Julius  Caesar,  and  defeated  and  driv¬ 
en  back  by  him,  15,  16. 


INDEX. 


XXIX 


HENRIETTA. 

Henrietta  of  England,  1 57. 

- of  France  and  Charles  of  England, 

144. 

Henry  I.,  grandson  of  Hugh  Capet,  39. 

- II.  of  France,  1547-1559,  102;  and  the 

revolt  against  the  gabel  or  salt-tax,  102  ;  and 
the  treaty,  prepares  for  war  with  Charles  V. 
of  Germany,  103  ;  and  Mary  of  England,  war 
declared  between,  104;  and  the  Spanish  in¬ 
vasion  of  France  ;  and  the  treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis,  104;  and  the  Reformation,  104; 
accidentally  mortally  wounded  by  the  Count 
de  Montgomery,  death  of,  105. 

* - III.  of  France  and  the  religious  wars, 

1574-1589,  1 15;  disappointment  caused  by 
his  first  acts  as  king ;  and  the  league ;  dif¬ 
ficulties  of  his  government,  1 1 7  ;  and  Henry 
of  Navarre,  117  ;  and  Duke  Henry  de  Guise, 
t  1 8  ;  escapes  from  Paris  and  the  Duke  de 
Guise,  1 19;  at  the  Stcites-General  of  Blois, 
1 19;  and  the  murder  of  Guise,  120;  and 
Henry  of  Navarre,  120;  stabbed  by  a  monk, 
121;  death  of,  1589,  114. 

- IV.  of  France,  122  ;  policy  of,  122  ;  and 

the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  1 22  ;  defeats  the  duke 
of  Mayenne  at  Arques,  123;  at  the  battle  of 
Ivry,  124;  besieges  Paris,  124;  and  the  duke 
of  Parma,  124;  and  the  siege  of  Rouen, 
125  ;  decides  to  turn  Catholic,  126;  besieges 
Dreux,  126;  turns  Catholic,  126 ;  anointed  at 
Chartres,  127;  enters  Paris,  1594,  128;  at¬ 
tempted  murder  of,  1 28  ;  declares  war  with 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  128;  gallant  conduct 
at  the  encounter  of  Fontaine-Frangaise, 
129;  makes  peace  with  Spain  at  Vervins, 
issues  the  edict  of  Nantes,  129 ;  foreign  policy 
of,  130;  his  ministers,  130,  131  ;  and  Mar¬ 
guerite  of  Valois,  annulment  of  their  marriage, 
1 31  ;  and  Biron’s  conspiracy,  132;  assassin¬ 
ated,  132. 

Henry  V.,  emperor  of  Germany,  declines  battle 
with  Louis  VI.,  48. 

- V.  of  England,  the  battle  of  Agincourt, 

66;  resumes  his  campaign  in  France,  67; 
death  of,  at  Vincennes,  67. 

- VI.  of  England,  67  ;  crowned  at  Paris, 

I43C  67. 

- - VIII.  of  England  and  the  league  of  the 

Holy  Union,  1511,85;  sends  a  fleet  to  aid 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  87  ;  makes  peace  with 
Louis  XII.,  88;  and  European  affairs  in  1519, 
92  ;  meets  F rancis  I.  at  The  Field  of  the  Cloth 
of  Gold,  92  ;  and  the  Holy  League,  96  ;  and 
Charles  V.  of  Germany,  treaty  between,  1 543, 
97  ;  invades  France,  97  ;  and  the  Reformation, 
100. 

- Plantagenet,  duke  of  Normandy,  count 

of  Anjou,  marries  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  and 
on  the  death  of  Stephen,  in  1 1 54,  he  becomes 
king  of  England,  42. 

Hochkirch,  the  battle  of,  228. 

Hochstett,  the  battle  of,  1704,  163,  164. 

Holland,  liberty  and  prosperity  of,  secured  by 


JANSENISM. 

Heinsius,  at  the  expense  of  her  political  posi¬ 
tion  in  Europe,  162  ;  joins  England  against 
Louis  XV.,  210. 

Holy  City,  the,  40. 

- League,  86,  96. 

- Sepulcher,  40. 

Honorius  III.,  Pope,  51. 

Hospital,  Chancellor  de  V,  107,  109,  112,  115. 

Hotel  des  Invalides  and  Louvois,  173. 

Howe,  Lord,  revictuals  Gibraltar  during  the 
three  years’  siege,  258. 

Huguenots,  the,  persecution  of,  108 ;  and  the 
fall  of  La  Rochelle,  142  ;  and  Richelieu,  143 ; 
and  Louis  XIV.,  175. 

Hume.  History  of  England,  ^quoted,  50. 

Hundred  Years’  War,  the,  58  ;  Charles  V.,  and 
the,  62  ;  Charles  VII.,  Joan  of  Arc,  1422- 
1461,  and  the,  68  ;  Joan  of  Arc’s,  the  glory  of 
bringing  to  an  end  the,  71. 

Huns,  the,  arrival  of,  in  Gaul,  under  their  king, 
Attila,  a.d.  451,  29,  driven  out  of  Gaul,  29. 

Huss,  John,  99. 

Hyder  Ali  and  the  struggle  against  the  English 
in  India,  218,  257. 

Ibarra,  Don  Diego  d’,  128. 

Iberians,  the,  2. 

Ibn-al-Arabi,  Saracen  chief,  34. 

lie  de  France,  colony  of,  216. 

India  company,  the  French,  216. 

- companies,  the,  rivalry  between  the 

French  and  English,  216-220. 

- ,  the  French  in,  216. 

- lost  to  France,  231. 

Ingeburga,  Princess,  of  Denmark,  wife  of 
Philip  Augustus,  51. 

Innocent  III.,  Pope,  summons  France  to  ex¬ 
tirpate  the  Albigensians ;  and  Simon  de 
Montfort,  50 ;  death  of,  57  ;  and  the  conjugal 
irregularity  of  Philip  Augustus,  50. 

- XI.,  Pope,  and  the  Augsburg  League 

against  Louis  XIV.,  161. 

- XIII.,  Pope,  makes  Dubois  a  cardinal, 

202. 

Irenaeus,  St.,  second  bishop  of  Lyons,  A.D.  177 
-202,  29. 

Iron  mask,  the,  189. 

Iroquois,  the,  222. 

Islamism,  the  tide  of,  rolled  back  by  the  wars 
of  the  Crusades,  32. 

Italian  League,  the,  and  Charles  VIII.,  81. 

Italy,  the  wars  of,  and  Charles  VIII.,  81  ;  the 
wars  in,  and  Louis  XII.,  82,  83. 

Ivry,  the  battle  of,  1590,  124. 

Jacobite  rising,  the  Scottish,  of  1745,  213. 

Jacquery,  the,  62. 

f deques,  Bonhomrne,  62. 

James  I.  of  England  and  the  marriage  of  his 
son  Prince  Charles,  144. 

Jansenism  in  France,  174;  Louis  XIV. ’s  last 
blow  at,  175  ;  fansenism  and  Mme.  de  Main- 
tenon,  175. 


XXX 


INDEX. 


JANSENISTS. 

Jansenists,  the,  set  at  liberty,  195. 

Jansenius  and  his  teaching,  179. 

Jar  din  des  Plantes ,  Le,  and  Richelieu,  149 ; 
and  Buffon,  244. 

Jarnac,  the  battle  of,  1569,  112. 

Jeannin,  President,  115. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  99. 

Jerusalem,  the  cradle  of  Christianity,  40 ;  be¬ 
sieged  by  the  Mussulmans,  siege  and  capture 
of,  by  the  Crusaders,  40 ;  under  Christian 
rule,  1 1 00- 1 186,  41  ;  the  fall  of  the  Christian 
kingdom  of,  causes  great  consternation 
throughout  Christendom,  41. 

Jesuits,  the,  128,  221  ;  the  Portuguese,  under 
Louis  XV.,  232,  233  ;  the  Order  of,  dissolved 
by  Rome,  233  ;  the  Society  of  the,  suppressed 
in  France  by  the  edict  of  1764,  233 ;  expelled 
from  Spain,  233. 

Joan  Hachette,  75. 

- of  Arc,  68,  69,  70. 

John  Lackland,  king  of  England,  and  Philip  II. 
of  France,  47. 

- I.  of  France,  58. 

- II.,  king  of  France,  called  the  Good ,  61  ; 

defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of 
Poictiers,  his  captivity  in  England,  61  ;  his 
ransom ;  set  at  liberty  and  escorted  to  France  ; 
voluntarily  returns  to  captivity  in  England, 
and  dies  in  London,  1364,  62. 

Judith,  the  Empress,  36. 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  85;  and  the  Venetians  ;  his 
joy  at  the  death  of  Cardinal  Amboise,  86 ;  death 
of,  87. 

Karikal,  217  ;  restored  to  the  French,  259. 

Karle,  or  Callet,  William  of,  62. 

Keith,  Lord,  and  Voltaire,  241. 

Keppel,  Admiral,  255. 

Kersaint,  Admiral  de,  257. 

Khevenhuller,  General,  209. 

Kingship,  the,  in  France,  decay  of,  223,  232. 

Kolin,  battle  of,  226. 

Kymrians,  the,  2. 

Kymro-Belgians,  4. 

La  Bourdonnais,  216. 

La  Bruyere,  character  and  works  of,  185. 

Ladies’  peace,  the,  97. 

La  Fayette,  Louis  de,  and  Louis  XIII.,  137. 

- ,  Madame  de,  and  Rochefoucauld,  184. 

- lands  in  America,  1 777,  254;  and 

Washington,  255. 

La  Fontaine,  186. 

Lagrange,  262. 

Lally-Tolendal,  Count ;  sails  with  a  French  fleet 
to  avenge  the  French  reverses  in  India,  219; 
accused  of  treason  and  beheaded,  220. 

Languedoc,  the  estates  of,  and  the  Chancellor 
Duprat,  91. 

- Canal,  the,  17 1. 

- ,  persecution  of  the  Protestants  of, 

under  Louis  XIV.,  178. 

Lannoy,  viceroy  of  Naples,  95,  96. 


LOUIS  THE  GERMANIC. 

La  Peyrouse,  M.  de  la,  263. 

Laplace,  M.  de,  262. 

La  Rochelle,  obstinate  resistance  of  the  citi¬ 
zens  of ;  capitulation  of,  to  Louis  XIII., 
1628,  142. 

Latin  paganism,  28. 

La  Tremoille,  122. 

Lautrec,  Marshal  de,  92 ;  death  of,  96. 

Lauzun,  M.  de,  189. 

La  Valliere,  Mdlle.  de,  and  Louis  XIV.,  189. 

Lavoisier,  262. 

Law,  John,  the  Scottish  adventurer;  birth, 
character  and  schemes  of,  196-200. 

Lawfeldt,  the  battle  of,  214. 

League  of  the  Holy  Union,  against  Louis  XII., 
87. 

League,  the,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
Henry  III.,  117;  and  Henry  IV.,  123. 

- ,  the  Spanish,  125. 

- ,  the  French,  125,  126,  127. 

Leaguers,  the,  and  the  murder  of  Guise,  120; 
defeated  by  Henry  IV.  at  Arques,  123. 

Leake,  Admiral,  captures  Sardinia,  Minorca, 
and  Port  Mahon,  165. 

Lebrun,  Charles,  188. 

Leclerc,  John,  first  French  martyr  of  the  Re¬ 
formation,  100. 

Leckzinska,  Mary,  and  Louis  XV.,  235. 

Lens,  the  victory  of,  1 50. 

Leo  X.,  Pope,  and  Louis  XII.  of  France,  88; 
and  Francis  I.,  91 ;  and  the  battle  of  Melegna- 
no,  92  ;  and  the  Co?icordat  with  Francis  I.,  92. 

Le  Poussin  and  Louis  XIV.,  188. 

Le  Quesnoy,  captured  by  Villars  and  the 
French,  169. 

Lerida,  captured  170 7,  165. 

Lesdiguieres,  126. 

Lespinasse,  Mdlle.,  244. 

L’Estoile,  quoted,  116. 

Lesueur,  Eustache,  and  Poussin,  188. 

Lettres  Persanes,  the,  237. 

Liege,  the  siege  of,  by  Louis  XI.  and  Charles 
the  Rash,  75. 

Lille  captured,  1707,  by  Eugene  and  Marlbor¬ 
ough,  165. 

Lionne,  De,  and  Louis  XIV.,  156. 

Lissa,  the  battle  of,  228. 

Literature,  French,  of  the  Renaissance,  99; 
tempo  Richelieu,  146,  150. 

Lombards,  the,  33. 

Longueville,  the  Duke  de,  152,  157 

Longjumeau,  the  peace  of,  112. 

Lorraine,  159,  160,  163. 

- ,  Cardinal  Louis  of,  102. 

- ,  Prince  Charles  of,  2 1 1 ;  and  the  battle 

of  Raucoux,  213;  defeated  at  Lissa  by 
Frederick  the  Great,  228. 

- ,  Francis  de,  duke  of  Guise,  102,  103. 

Lothaire,  emperor  of  the  Franks,  a.d.  817,  37. 

Louis  the  Debonnair,  or,  Louis  the  Pious,  36 ; 
divides  his  kingdom  between  his  sons,  36; 
death  of,  37. 

- the  Germanic,  37. 


INDEX. 


XXXI 


LOUIS,  PRINCE. 

Louis,  Prince,  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  51. 

- V.,  the  Sluggard,  38. 

- VI.,  the  Fat,  energy  and  efficiency  of,  and 

expeditions  against  his  rebel  subjects,  47. 

- VII.,  the  Young,  his  unimportant  but 

long  reign,  41,  48. 

- VIII.  of  France,  49. 

- IX.,  or  St.  Louis.  See  5/.  Louis. 

- X.,  called  the  Quarreler,  57,  58. 

- - XI.,  youth  of,  72  ;  and  the  rebel  barons, 

73 ;  and  the  count  of  Charolais,  74 ;  and 
Charles  the  Rash  of  Burgundy,  74 ;  held  by 
Charles  the  Rash,  75  ;  accompanies  Charles 
the  Rash  to  the  siege  of  Liege,  75  ;  and 
Edward  IV.  of  England,  75  ;  and  the  death 
of  his  brother  Charles,  76 ;  the  death  of 
Charles  the  Rash,  77  ;  failure  of  the  main 
policy  of,  77 ;  his  three  great  services  to 
France,  78  ;  death  of,  1483,  79  ;  the  family  of, 
79- 

— - XII.,  crowned  at  Reims,  83 ;  foreign 

policy  and  home  government  of,  88  ;  charac¬ 
ter  of,  private  life  of,  88 ;  marries  Princess 
Mary,  sister  of  Henry  VIII.,  89  ;  death  of,  89, 

- XIII.,  youth  of,  133;  and  the  murder  of 

D’Ancre,  133;  and  Anne  of  Austria,  134; 
and  Richelieu,  134;  and  Luynes,  134;  Mary 
de’  Medici,  civil  war  between,  134;  Duke 
Jdenry  of  Montmorency  beheaded,  136,  137; 
Richelieu  and  foreign  affairs,  144 ;  illness  and 
death  of,  146;  Richelieu  and  literature,  146- 
1 50. 

- - XIV.,  and  the  policy  of  Richelieu,  152  ; 

the  government  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  1643- 
1661,  153;  and  the  great  Conde,  154;  mar¬ 
riage  of,  with  the  infanta  of  Spain,  1 54 ;  the 
council  of,  155;  and  Fouquet,  155;  the 
peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  1668,  157;  war 
with  Holland,  157;  reduces  Franche-Comte, 
157;  concludes  peace  with  Holland,  159; 
declares  war  against  Holland  and  the  empire, 
158 ;  effects  of  his  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  16 1  ;  the  grand  alliance  against;  his 
wars  and  the  partition  of  the  king  of  Spain’s 
dominions,  163  ;  answerable  for  the  religious 
persecutions  of  his  reign,  18 1  ;  and  literature 
and  art,  182-188;  egotism  of,  190;  his  will, 
192 ;  death  bed  of,  190;  death  of,  191. 

- XV.,  character  of  his  reign,  194;  de¬ 
moralization  of  his  court,  203 ;  and  the 
ministry  of  Cardinal  Fleury,  1723-1748,  205  ; 
he  declares  war  against  England  and  Maria 
Theresa,  210;  joins  the  army  in  person,  210; 
the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  212;  returns  in  tri¬ 
umph  to  Paris,  213 ;  and  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  215;  France  in  the  colonies,  1 745— 
1763,  216-224;  declares  war  with  England, 

1755,  225  ;  and  the  Franco- Austrian  alliance, 

1756,  225;  and  the  outbreak  of  the  Seven 
Years’  War, '226  ;  and  the  Family  Pact  with 
Spain,  231  ;  and  the  annexation  of  Corsica, 
235  ;  death,  and  character  of,  1774,  236;  the 
philosophers  of  his  time,  236. 


MARCHE. 

Louis  XVI.,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  248 ;  the 
coronation  of,  251  ;  France  abroad — United 
States  War  of  Independence,  1775-1783,  253; 
his  aid  to  the  Americans,  254;  France  at 
home — ministry  of  M.  Necker  1776-1781, 
260  ;  convocation  of  the  States-general,  1787- 
1789,  263  ;  and  the  protest  of  the  French  par¬ 
liaments,  264;  recalls  M.  Necker,  266;  and 
the  third  estate,  267  ;  and  the  States-general 
of,  1789,  267. 

Louisbourg,  surrendered  to  France,  215. 

Louise  of  Savoy,  89;  death  of,  1531,  9 7. 

Louvois,  Marquis  de,  and  Turenne,  158;  and 
the  successes  of  Louis  XIV.,  160;  harsh  pol¬ 
icy  of,  in  the  palatinate,  161  ;  death  of,  173. 

Ludovic  the  Moor,  duke  of  Milan,  84. 

Luther,  Martin,  99. 

Luxembourg,  John  of,  captures  Joan  of  Arc, 
69. 

- ,  Louis  of,  and  Louis  XI.,  77. 

- ,  Marshal,  162,  defeats  William  III.  of 

England,  162  ;  death  of,  162. 

Luynes,  Albert  de,  133;  and  Richelieu,  135; 
and  Louis  XIII.,  135. 

Lynar,  Count,  227. 

Lyonness,  conquered  by  the  Burgundians,  29. 

Lyons  the  chief  center  of  early  Christianity  in 
Gaul,  28,  29. 

Machault,  M.  de,  224,  226. 

Madras,  captured  by  the  French,  217  ;  restored 
to  the  English,  218. 

Madrid,  treaty  of,  between  Francis  I.  and 
Charles  V.,  96. 

Maestricht  invested,  1748,  215. 

Magna  Charta,  upheld  by  St.  Louis,  52. 

Mahe,  217. 

Maillart  and  Marcel,  62. 

Maillebois,  Marshal,  208. 

Maine’s,  the  duke  of,  194;  and  the  Orleans 
regency,  198. 

- ,  the  duchess  of,  198  ;  arrested  198. 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  and  Louis  XIV.,  175, 
190;  and  the  persecution  of  the  Reformers, 
1 6 1  ;  and  Racine,  186;  and  the  death  of 
Louis,  193  ;  death  of,  194. 

Maisonneuve,  Paul  de,  222. 

Malagrida  burnt  as  a  heretic,  233. 

Malebranche,  183. 

Malesherbes,  L.  de,  called  to  the  ministry  by 
Turgot,  251  ; 

Malherbe,  147;  his  account  of  the  assassina¬ 
tion  of  Henry  IV.,  132. 

Malouet,  and  the  convocation  of  the  States- 
general,  1789,  268. 

Malplaquet,  the  battle  of,  1709,  166. 

Man  with  the  iron  mask,  the,  189. 

Mansard,  188. 

Mantes,  the  conference  of,  126. 

Marcel,  Stephen,  provost  of  the  tradesmen  of 
Paris,  61,  62. 

Marche,  Count  de  la,  defeated  by  St  Louis, 
52. 


XXXII 


INDEX. 


MARCUS  AURELIUS. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  account  of,  28. 

Marguerite  of  Austria  betrothed  to  the  Dau¬ 
phin  Charles,  78;  removed  from  France 

78. 

- of  Provence,  wife  of  St.  Louis  IX.,  44. 

- de  Valois  beautiful  character  of,  89; 

the  writings  of,  99;  death  of,  102. 

Maria  Theresa,  151,  156. 

Marriage  de  Figaro ,  the,  and  its  effects,  263. 

Marie  Antoinette,  261.  See  Antoinette. 

Marillac,  Francis  de,  136,  176. 

Marlborough,  the  duke  of,  and  Blenheim,  163  ; 
checked  by  Villars,  164;  and  the  battle  of 
Ramilies,  164;  defeats  Vendome  at  Auden- 
arde,  165  ;  and  the  battle  of  Malplaquet,  166; 
dismissed  by  Queen  Anne,  167. 

Marsaglia,  battle  of,  161. 

Marsin,  Marshal,  at  the  battle  of  Blenheim, 
164. 

Martel,  Charles,  32. 

Martyrs,  the,  of  Lyons,  29. 

Mary,  Queen,  of  England,  and  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  104. 

- of  Burgundy  weds  the  Archduke  Maxi¬ 
milian,  77. 

Masselin,  John,  character  of,  80. 

Massillon,  183. 

Maupeou,  M.  de,  Chancellor,  and  the  fall  of 
the  parliament  of  Paris,  233,  234;  dismissal 
and  death  of,  249. 

Maurepas,  M.  de,  recalled  by  Louis  XVI.,  248. 

Maximilian,  Archduke,  weds  Mary  of  Burgundy 
at  Ghent,  77  ;  of  Austria,  and  Anne  of  Brit¬ 
tany,  85. 

- I.,  Emperor,  and  Louis  XII.,  84;  joins 

the  Holy  League,  85;  and  Henry  VIII.  of 
England  in  France,  death  of,  92. 

Mayenne,  the  duke  of,  defeated  by  Henry  IV. 
at  Arques,  123;  at  Paris,  124;  joins  Henry 
IV.,  127. 

Mayors,  the,  of  the  palace,  31. 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  145  ;  recommended  by  Rich¬ 
elieu,  146;  denounced  by  the  parliament  of 
Paris,  1 51;  defeated  and  obliged  to  leave 
France,  152;  his  state-stroke,  153;  becomes 
all-powerful,  153;  concludes  the  peace  of 
the  Pyrenees,  154;  death  of,  155. 

Medici,  Peter  de’,  81. 

• - ,  Queen  Catherine  de’,  97, 106;  character 

of,  109;  and  the  St.  Bartholomew,  112;  and 
the  death  of  Charles  IX.,  116;  and  the  duke 
de  Guise,  1 17. 

- ,  Ferdinand  de’,  126. 

- - ,  Queen  Mary  de’,  marries  Henry  IV., 

1 31  ;  regency  of,  1610-1617,  1 33 ;  her  flight 
from  Blois,  134;  and  Louis  XIII.,  civil  war 
between,  135. 

Mediterranean,  pirates  of  the,  97. 

Melegnano.  the  battle  of,  90. 

Mello,  Don  Francisco  de,  150. 

Merovingian  kings,  30,  31. 

Mesmer,  262. 

Messina  gives  herself  up  to  France,  159. 


NAVARRE. 

Metz,  the  siege  of,  in  15.52,  103;  restored  to 
France,  160. 

Mignard,  188. 

Milan,  the  duchy  of,  and  Charles  VIII.,  83  ; 
siege -of,  raised  by  Gaston  de  Foix,  86. 

Milaness  and  Louis  XII.,  83. 

Minden,  the  battle  of,  1759,  229. 

Minorca  captured  by  Admiral  Leake,  165  ;  cap¬ 
tured  from  the  English,  1782,  257. 

Mirabeau,  birth  and  character  of,  267  ;  and  the 
revolution,  267  ;  and  M.  Necker,  269  ;  and  the 
title  of  the  States-general,  270. 

Missionaries,  the  first  Christian,  in  Gaul,  28. 

Mississippi,  the  scheme  of  Law,  197. 

Molay,  James  de,  grand  master  of  the  Templars, 

57- 

Mole,  President,  151. 

Moliere,  187. 

Moncontour,  battle  of,  1569,  112. 

Monge,  M.,  262. 

Mons  captured  by  Louis  XIV.,  162. 

Monseigneur,  Grand  Dauphin,  167. 

Alonsienr  s  Peace,  1576,  118. 

Monsigny,  musician,  249. 

Montaigne,  Michael  de,  146,  147. 

Montauban,  siege  of,  1621,  143. 

Montcalm,  the  marquis  of,  223. 

Montecuculli,  General,  1 59. 

Montespan,  Madame  de,  and  Louis  XIV.,  189. 

Montesquieu,  237  ;  the  works  of,  237,  238. 

Montfort,  John  of,  his  war  with  Charles  of  Blois, 

63-  , 

Montgolfier,  MM.  de,  262. 

Montgomery,  Count  de,  by  accident  mortally 
wounds  King  Henry  II.,  105. 

Montlhery,  engagement  at,  73. 

Montluc,  Blaise  de,  103,  no. 

Montmorency,  Marshal  de,  death  of,  237. 

- ,  the  Constable  Anne  de,  97,  102  ;  wound¬ 
ed  and  captured  at  St.  Quentin,  104. 

- ,  Henry,  duke  of,  executed,  137. 

Montpensier,  the  duchess  of,  127. 

- ,  Mdlle.  de,  called  the  Great  Mademoi¬ 
selle ,  and  the  Fronde,  152,  153. 

Montreal,  capitulation  of,  1760,  223. 

Monts,  M.  de,  appointed  viceroy  of  Acadia, 
221. 

Montsabert,  M.  de,  arrest  of,  265. 

Morat,  defeat  of  Charles  the  Rash  at,  76. 

Mornay,  Du-Plessis,  121. 

Motte,  Admirable  de  la,  257. 

Mounier,  M.,  266 ;  and  the  Third  Estate,  270. 

Miilhausen,  fight  of,  158. 

Nancy,  defeat  and  death  of  Charles  the  Rash, 

75- 

Nantes,  the  edict  of,  129;  revoked  by  Louis 
XIV.,  161  ;  in  1685,  176. 

Naples  and  Louis  XII.,  84. 

National  Assembly ,  adopted  as  the  style  of  the 
States-general,  270. 

Navarre,  Anthony  de  Bourbon,  king  of,  108; 
death  of,  1 10. 


INDEX. 


XXXIII 


NAVARRE. 

Navarre,  Charles  the  Bad  of,  62. 

- ,  Henry  of,  and  Marguerite  de  Valois, 

1 13;  and  Henry  III.,  117;  becomes  heir  to 
the  French  throne,  118  ;  and  the  murder  of 
Henry  III.,  120. 

- ,  Jeanne  d’Albret,  queen  of,  112. 

Navy,  the,  and  Richelieu,  140;  the  French,  under 
Louis  XV.,  222,  225,  235. 

Necker,  M.,  director-general  of  finance  under 
Louis  XVI.,  260  ;  financial  administration  of, 
260;  resigns,  261;  recalled  by  Louis  XVI., 
266  ;  in  the  States-general  of  1789,  269. 

Nerac,  the  peace  of,  in  1579,  118. 

Neustria,  kingdom  of,  31. 

Nevers,  Duke  de,  145. 

Newfoundland,  222. 

New  France,  and  Cardinal  Richelieu,  220. 

Newton,  239. 

Nicopolis,  battle  of,  42. 

Nimeguen,  the  peace  of,  160. 

Noailles,  Cardinal  de,  and  the  Orleans  regency, 
195. 

- ,  Marshal,  and  the  campaign  of  1734, 

206;  at  Dettingen,  210. 

- ,  the  duke  of,  and  Law’s  schemes,  196. 

Nogaret,  William  de,  56. 

Norman,  the,  conquest  of  England,  40. 

Normandy,  completely  won  back  to  France,  74  ; 
the  revolt  of,  against  the  taxation  of  Louis 
XIII.,  139;  emigration  of  persecuted  reform¬ 
ers,  177. 

Normans,  the,  and  the  discovery  of  America, 
220. 

North,  Lord,  257. 

Northmen,  the,  36. 

Notables,  assembly  of  the,  263. 

Novara,  battle  of,  1513,  88. 

Noyon,  treaty  of,  91. 

Nu-pieds,  revolt  of  the,  139. 

Olier,  M.,  222. 

Omar  captures  Jerusalem,  43. 

Orange,  William,  the  prince  of,  and  Louis  XIV., 
158;  and  the  battle  of  Mons,  160;  and  the 
deputies  of  the  estates,  1 59. 

Orders,  the  three,  composing  the  States-general, 

58>  59- 

Orleans,  the  maid  of  (see  Joan  of  Arc)',  the 
siege  of,  raised  through  the  maid  of  Orleans, 
68  ;  tribute  of,  to  the  memory  of  Joan  of  Arc, 

7i- 

- ,  Louis,  duke  of,  death  of,  65. 

- Duke  Gaston  of,  and  Richelieu,  137  ; 

submission,  retirement,  and  death  of,  153. 

- ,  the  regency  of  the  duke  of,  195  ;  declares 

war  with  Spain,  1719,  200. 

■ - ,  the  regent,  and  the  Scotch  adventurer 

Law,  196;  and  the  duchess  of  Maine’s  plot, 
198  ;  and  Dubois,  199;  and  Dubois  as  arch¬ 
bishop  of  Cambria,  202  ;  and  Belzunce,  202  ; 
death  and  character  of,  203. 

- - ,  the  duke  of,  and  Louis  XVI.,  250 ;  and 

the  States-general  of,  1789,  270. 


PHILIP  VI. 

Ornano,  Alphonso  Corso  d’,  135. 

Ossat,  Arnauld  d’,  1 3 1 . 

Otho  IV.,  emperor  of  Germany,  49. 

Paderborn,  Saxons  baptized  at,  by  Charle¬ 
magne,  34. 

Paganism,  fall  of,  29. 

Painters  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  187,  188. 

Palatinate,  the,  devastated  by  the  French  in 
1689,  1 61 . 

Paoli,  Pascal,  the  hero  of  Corsica,  235. 

Pare,  Ambrose,  116. 

Paris,  ancient  name  of,  see  Lutetia ,  31,  53 ;  the 
parliament  of,  and  the  concordat  between 
Francis  I.  and  Leo  X.,  92  ;  revolt  of  the  popu¬ 
lace  of,  1588,  1 1 9 ;  siege  of,  by  Henry  III., 
1 19;  the  parliament  cf,  and  the  Bourbon 

""pretender,  122;  besieged  by  Henry  IV.,  123  ; 
\he  parliament  of,  and  the  edict  of  Nantes, 
129;  and  Louis  XIII.,  138;  and  Mazarin, 
1 51;  and  the  Fronde,  151,  1 52 ;  the  parlia¬ 
ment  of,  and  its  struggles  with  Fleury,  207  ; 
and  Louis  XV.,  226,  233  ;  the  peace  of,  1762, 
232 ;  the  parliament  of,  and  the  Jesuits,  233. 

Paris-Duverney,  204. 

Parker,  Admiral  Hyde,  257. 

Parliament,  the,  of  Paris  banished  by  Louis 
XV.,  233  ;  recalled  by  Louis  XVI.,  249  ;  ar¬ 
rest  of  members  of  the,  1788,  264;  protests 
of  the,  264. 

Parma  annexed  by  Francis  I.,  91. 

- ,  Duke  Alexander  of,  124. 

- ,  the  battle  at,  207. 

Pascal,  Blaise,  179,  182. 

Patay,  the  battle  of,  69. 

Paul,  St.  Vincent  de,  141. 

Pavia,  the  battle  of,  100. 

People’s  Battle,  the,  of  Bouvines,  49. 

Pepin  of  Landen,  called  The  Ancient,  32. 

- of  Heristal,  his  death,  32. 

- the  Short,  33. 

Peronne,  treaty  of,  75. 

Perrault,  188. 

Pescara,  the  marquis  of,  94,  95. 

Peschiera,  capture  of,  by  Louis  XII.,  86. 

Peter  de  la  Brosse  and  Philip  III.,  54. 

- the  Great  and  Madame  de  Maintenon, 

193* 

Petigliano,  Count,  at  the  battle  of  Agnadello,  86. 

Philip  I.,  39. 

- II.,  or  Philip  Augustus  of  France,  48; 

joins  in  a  new  crusade,  43 ;  at  the  battle  of 
Bouvines,  49;  and  Agnes  of  Merania,  51; 
administrative  acts  of,  49 ;  death  of,  51. 

- III.  of  France,  surnamed  the  Bold,  53, 

54- 

- IV.,  called  the  Handsome,  character  of, 

54;  and  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  55,  56,  57; 
death  and  character  of,  57  ;  the  three  sons 
of,  57. 

- V.,  called  the  Long,  58. 

- VI.,  or  Philip  of  Valois,  60;  death  of, 

1350,  61. 


XXXIV 


INDEX. 


PHILIP  II. 

Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  103,  104,  118,  128;  death 
of,  129. 

- IV.,  of  Spain,  and  the  peace  of  the 

Pyrenees,  154. 

• - V.  of  Spain,  168;  refuses  to  abdicate, 

168. 

Philosophers,  the,  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XV., 
237-247. 

Phoenicians,  the,  2,  3. 

Piacenza  annexed  by  Francis  I.,  91. 

Piedmont,  and  Charles  VIII.  of  France,  81. 

Pitt,  William,  returns  to  office,  228,  231. 

Plague  of  Florence,  or  the  Black  Plague,  162. 

- ,  the,  in  France  in  1719,  202. 

Plelo,  Count,  killed  at  Dantzic,  206. 

Plessis  Mornay,  Philip  du.  See  Du  Plessis-Mor- 
nay. 

Poitiers,  battle  near,  a.d.  507,  30 ;  great  battle 
at,  A.D.  732,  32. 

Poitou,  102. 

Poland,  the  crown  of,  offered  to  the  duke  of 
Anjou,  1 16;  events  preceding  the  partition 
of,  206  ;  the  partition  of,  236. 

Policists,  the,  125. 

Polignac,  Madame  de,  261. 

Poltrot,  John,  1 10. 

Ponts  de  Ce,  engagement  of,  135. 

Port-Royal  des  Champs,  141,  142,  179. 

Pothinus,  St.,  first  bishop  of  Lyons,  29. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  its  three  principal  objects, 

91- 

Praguery,  the,  72. 

Protestants,  the,  after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar¬ 
tholomew,  1 1 5  ;  persecutions  of,  under  Louis 
XIV.,  175,  180;  under  the  Orleans  regency, 
19S- 

Protestantism  in  Louis  XIV.’s  reign,  176-180. 

Pyrenees,  peace  of  the,  1659,  154. 

Quesnel,  Father,  179. 

Quietism,  174;  and  Madame  de  Maintenon,  173. 

Rabelais,  Francois,  146. 

Racine,  186. 

Rambouillet,  Hotel,  meetings  of  the  literati  at, 
147- 

Ramus,  Peter  la  Ramee,  146. 

Ravenna  the  battle  of,  1512,  87. 

Raymond  VI., .of  Toulouse,  50. 

- VII.,  of  Toulouse,  51. 

Reformation,  the,  and  Francis  I.,  99;  state  of 
the,  in  France  in  1561,  105. 

Religious  wars  in  France,  outbreak  of  the,  107. 

- War,  outbreak  of  the  Fourth,  1572, 

1 1 5- 

Renaissance,  the  age  of  the,  98. 

Rene,  II.,  king  of  Lorraine,  and  Louis  XI.,  76. 

Retz,  Cardinal  de,  185. 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  in  the  Holy  Land,  41, 
43-  . 

Richelieu,  Armand  John  du  Plessis  de,  bishop 
of  Lugon  (afterward  cardinal),  birth  and 
early  life  of,  134;  foreign  policy  of,  144;  and 


SEPOYS. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  144  ;  seventy-four  treaties 
concluded  by,  144;  death  of,  145  ;  and  Louis 
XIII.  and  literature,  146-150;  his  monument, 
and  Peter  the  Great,  200. 

Richelieu,  Marshal,  captures  Minorca,  229. 
Rigaud,  188. 

Robais,  Van,  171. 

Robert,  son  of  Hugh  Capet,  39. 

Robertet,  Florimond,  and  Francis  I.,  90. 

Rohan,  Duke  Henry  of,  142 ;  death  of,  143. 

- ,  the  duchess  of,  and  the  siege  of  La 

Rochelle,  142. 

- ,  the  Camisard,  178. 

Rolf  (or  Rollo),  the  Northman,  36. 

Roman  Empire,  final  dissolution  of,  30. 

- customs  and  manners  forced  on  the 

Gauls,  22. 

- States,  the,  settled  on  the  popes,  33. 

- victories  over  the  Gauls,  14. 

Romans  defeat  the  Gauls,  8. 

Rome  plants  colonies  among  the  Gauls,  9. 
Ronsard,  146,  147. 

Rosbach,  the  battle  of,  228. 

Rosebecque,  battle  of,  64. 

Rouault,  Marshal  Joachim,  75. 

Rouen,  siege  of,  by  Henry  IV.,  125. 

Rousseau,  birth,  character,  and  works  of,  244. 
Roze,  Chevalier,  202. 

Russia  and  the  partition  of  Poland,  1772,  235. 
Ruyter,  Admiral,  1 59. 

Ryswick,  the  peace  of,  1697,  162,  163,  169. 

Saint  Andre,  Marshal  de,  104 ;  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Dreux,  no. 

Saint  Bartholomew,  the  massacre  of,  114,  115. 
Saint  Cyran,  M.  de,  character  and  work  of,  141, 
179- 

Saint  Germain-en-Laye,  the  peace  of,  112. 

Saint  Germain,  the  duke  of,  251. 

Saint  Louis,  or  Louis  IX.,  44-52. 

Saint  Omer  kept  by  France,  159. 

Saint-Quentin,  captured  by  Philip  II.  of  Spain, 
104. 

Saint  Pierre,  Bernardin  de,  Paul  and  Virginia, 
262. 

Saladin,  Sultan,  42. 

Sales,  St.  Francis  de,  147. 

Salic  law,  the,  58. 

Saracens,  their  invasion  of  Southern  Gaul,  36. 
Sardinia,  captured  by  Admiral  Leake,  165. 
Savoy,  Duke  Charles  of,  and  Charles  VIII., 
81. 

Saxe,  Marshal,  character  of,  212. 

Saxons,  the,  defeated  by  Charlemagne,  34. 
Saxony,  Augustus  II.,  206. 

- ,  conquered  by  Frederick  the  Great, 

228. 

Schomberg,  Marshal,  177. 

Scudery  and  the  Cid,  149. 

Seignelay,  M.  de,  174. 

Semblangay,  Baron  de,  93. 

Senegal  settlements,  the,  ceded  to  France,  159. 
Sepoys,  the,  217. 


INDEX. 


XXXV 


SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR. 

Seven  Years'  War,  outbreak  of  the,  226 ;  end 
of  the,  231. 

Sevigne,  Madame  de,  184. 

Sieyes,  Abbe,  and  the  Third  Estate,  267,  270. 

Simon,  count  of  Montfort  l’Amaury,  or  Simon 
de  Montfort,  50,  51. 

Sixteen,  the  commitee  of,  120,  125. 

Sluggard  kings,  the,  38. 

Soliman  II.,  Sultan,  98. 

Sorbonne,  the,  and  the  reformation,  100 ;  and 
Henry  III.,  120,  149  ;  and  Buffon,  243. 

Soubise,  the  duke  of,  captures  the  French  fleet, 
142. 

- ,  prince  of,  defeated  at  Rosbach,  228. 

Spain  and  France,  treaty  between,  231. 

Spinola,  celebrated  Spanish  general,  145. 

Stahrenberg,  Count  von,  167. 

Stafarde,  battle  of,  1698,  161. 

Stanhope,  Lord,  and  the  fall  of  Alberoni,  201. 

Stanislaus,  King,  205  ;  and  the  national  party 
in  Poland  defeated,  207. 

States-general  (see  also  estates-general),  the 
first  in  French  history,  56;  assembled,  136 7, 
63;  convoked  at  Tours,  Jan.  5,  1484,  80; 
convoked  at  Tours  by  Louis  XII.,  1506,  85; 
meeting  of  the,  at  Paris,  1527,96;  of  1560, 
108;  meeting  of  the,  at  Blois,  1588,  118;  of 
the  League,  120;  and  Louis  XIII.,  134;  of 
1789,  267. 

Strasburg  captured  by  Louis  XIV.,  160,  162. 

Stuart,  Mary,  and  Francis  II.,  marriage  of,  104. 

Suffren,  Peter  Andrew  de,  and  French  suc¬ 
cesses  in  the  East  Indies,  257,  259. 

Suger,  Abbot  of  St.  Denis,  42. 

Sully,  character  of,  1 30  ;  and  Mary  de’  Medici. 
133. 

Swiss,  the,  defeat  Charles  the  Rash  at  Morat. 
76  ;  defeated  at  Melegnano  by  the  French,  90. 

Taillebourg,  battle  of,  113. 

Taliard,  Count  de,  defeated  163. 

Talleyrand,  Henry  de,  136. 

Tavannes,  Marshal  de,  and  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  1 1 5. 

Taxation  in  France,  temp.  Louis  XIV.,  170; 
reforms  of  the  Orleans  regency,  196. 

Teligny,  114. 

Tellier,  Le,  and  Louis  XIV.,  176. 

Tende,  Count  de,  115. 

Terray,  Abbe,  234;  dismissed  by  Louis  XVI., 
248. 

Theresa,  Maria  (see  also  Maria),  208,  209, 
212. 

Thierry  IV.,  31. 

Third  Estate,  the,  and  the  Communes,  58  ;  and 
French  civilization,  59;  and  Louis  XVI.,  267. 

Thirty  Years’  War,  end  of  the,  151. 

Thou,  Nicholas  de,  executed,  137,  138. 

Tippoo  Sahib,  258. 

Tobago,  ceded  to  France,  259. 

Tolbiac,  battle  of,  30. 

Tremoille,  Louis  de  la,  and  Anne  de  Beaujeu, 
80,  84 


VOYSIN. 

Trianon,  the  Manor-House  of,  261. 

Triple  Alliance,  the,  signed  at  the  Hague,  156, 
199-  . 

Trivulzio,  John  James,  and  Louis  XII.,  83. 

Truce  of  God,  the,  39. 

Tuileries,  the,  and  Louis  XIV.,  172. 

Turckheim,  fight  of,  158. 

Turenne,  Viscount  de,  150,  158. 

- ,  M.  de,  and  Louvois,  172. 

Turgot,  M.,  the  ministry  of,  and  Louis  XVI., 
249 ;  acts  of  his  ministry,  250,  251  ;  dismissed 
by  Louis  XVI.,  253. 

Turin,  the  siege  of,  1706,  164. 

Tuscany,  the  grand  duke  of,  proclaimed  Em¬ 
peror  as  Francis  I.,  209. 

Ultramontanes,  the,  141. 

Unigenitus,  the  bull,  180. 

Union,  the,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  117. 

United  Provinces,  the,  and  Richelieu,  142. 

United  States  of  America,  and  the  War  of  In¬ 
dependence,  254,  259. 

Ursins,  the  Princess  des,  191. 

Utrecht,  the  treaty  of,  1712,  161. 

Uzes,  178. 

Valenciennes,  capture  of,  159. 

Valois,  Joan  of,  75. 

- ,  Prince  Henry  of,  son  of  Francis  I.,  9 7. 

- ,  Marguerite  de,  89. 

Valteline,  the  war  in  the,  143,  144. 

Vauban,  the  celebrated  engineer,  his  work  and 
Louis  XIV.,  156,  162,  164,  173. 

Vaudians,  massacre  of  the,  101. 

Vaux,  Marshal,  265. 

Vendome,  the  duke  of,  163  ;  defeated  by  Marl¬ 
borough,  165  ;  sent  to  the  aid  of  Philip  V.  of 
Spain,  166. 

Venetians,  the,  and  Louis  XII.,  85 ;  defeat  of, 
85. 

Ventadour,  Madame  de,  195. 

Vercingetorix  18-21. 

Verdun,  the  treaty  of,  37. 

Vergennes,  M.  de,  254,  255. 

Versailles,  the  palace  of,  built  by  Louis  XIV., 
172. 

Vervins,  peace  of,  between  France  and  Spain, 
129. 

Vienna,  the  peace  of,  1735,  207. 

Villars,  Andrew  de  Brancas,  lord  of,  127. 

- ,  Marshal,  164,  165  ;  and  the  battle  of 

Malplaquet,  165  ;  and  the  battle  of  Denain, 
169  ;  and  the  revolt  of  the  Camisards,  178. 

Villeroi,  Nicholas  de  Neufville,  lord  of,  charac¬ 
ter  of,  127,  1 3 1. 

- ,  Marshal,  163,  164 ;  defeated  by  Marl¬ 
borough,  164. 

Visigoths,  the,  29. 

Viterbo,  the  treaty  of,  between  Francis  I.  and 
Pope  Leo  X.,  92. 

Vivonne,  the  duke  of,  159. 

Voltaire,  226,  238,  241,  242. 

Voysin,  Chancellor,  166,  174,  196. 


XXXVI 


INDEX. 


WALDENSIANS. 

Waldensians.  See  Vaudians. 

Walpole,  Robert,  and  Fleury,  205. 

Warsaw,  the  treaty  of,  235. 

Washington,  his  mistrust  of  French  aid  to 
America,  254 ;  and  La  Fayette,  255. 
Westphalia,  the  peace  of,  and  its  consequences, 
1 5 1,  160. 

William  of  Normandy,  the  conqueror,  41. 
William  the  Silent,  prince  of  Orange,  104. 

■ - III.  of  England,  and  the  treaty  of  Rys- 

wick,  162. 

Witt,  John  and  Cornelius  van,  assassinated,  1 58. 


ZEALAND. 

Wolfe,  General,  and  the  siege  of  Quebec,  223. 
World,  end  of  the,  expected,  a.d.  1000,  39. 
Worms,  general  assembly,  a.d.  839,  36. 

Ximenes  and  Francis  I.,  90. 

Ypres,  taken  by  Louis  XIV.,  159. 

Zachary,  Pope,  33. 

Zwingle,  99,  100. 

Zealand,  a  Genoan  fleet  arrives  at,  55. 


INDEX  TO  THE  CONTINUATION  TO  THE  HISTORY 

OF  FRANCE. 


ABBOTT. 

Abbot,  Speaker,  entries  in  diary  of,  302. 
Aboukir,  naval  battle  of,  284. 

- ,  land  battle  of,  284. 

Acre,  Napoleon  I.  at,  284. 

Alexander  of  Russia  and  Napoleon  at  Tilsit, 
291  ;  Russian  campaign,  293,  301  ;  alliance 
with  Frederick  William,  299. 

Alexandria,  Napoleon  in,  283. 

Algiers,  capture  of,  314. 

Ali,  Mehemet,  326. 

Alliance,  the  Holy,  309. 

Allied  powers’  treaty  with  France,  3 07. 

Alma,  the  battle  of,  338. 

Alvinzi,  Marshal,  283. 

Amar,  275. 

Amiens,  treaty  of,  1802,  285. 

Angouleme,  Duke  de,  309. 

Antoinette,  Marie,  273,  274. 

Arabi  Bey,  248. 

Areola,  battle  of,  283. 

Aumale,  Due  d’,  327. 

Auerstadt,  battle  of,  291. 

Austerlitz  battle  of,  288,  289. 

Austria  prepares  for  war,  292  ;  joins  the  alliance 
against  France,  300. 

Balaklava,  battle  of,  338. 

Barras,  Count  Paul  Jean  Francois  Nicolas,  279; 

and  the  Directory,  281  ;  and  Napoleon,  282. 
Barrot,  M.  Odillion,  332. 

Bassano,  battle  of,  283. 

Bastile,  destruction  of,  272. 

Bautzen,  battle  of,  300. 

Bavaria,  Augusta  of,  the  wife  of  Eugene  Beau- 
harnais,  king  of  Italy,  289;  the  king  of, 
joins  the  alliance  against  France,  300. 
Beauharnais,  Eugene,  289. 

Berlin  decrees,  291,  294,  295  ;  Napoleon  in, 300. 
Bernadotte,  Marshal,  and  Sweden,  294 ;  crown 
prince  of  Sweden  at  Lausberg,  300. 

Beranger,  31 1. 


CHRISTIANITY. 

Berri,  duke  of,  309. 

Bienhoa  conquered,  340. 

Billermarri,  attempt  on  life  of  Napoleon  III., 
338. 

Blanc,  Louis,  333  ;  death  of,  348. 

Blucher  at  Lubeck,  291  ;  desires  to  kill  Napoleon, 
306,  307  ;  in  Paris,  307. 

Bonaparte,  family  of,  289 ;  excluded  from  the 
Holy  Alliance,  309. 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,  king  of  Naples,  289  ;  ex¬ 
changes  Naples  for  Spain,  291. 

Bonaparte,  Jerome,  king  of  Westphalia,  291. 
Bordeaux,  duke  of,  310  ;  riots  in,  341. 
Bourguency,  Baron  de,  326. 

Bourrienne  and  Napoleon  I.,  280. 

Brienne,  battle  of,  303. 

Brissot  party,  274. 

Brunswick,  duke  of,  victorious,  275. 

Bugeaud,  Marshal,  332. 

Bugot,  275. 

Caln  taken  by  revolutionists,  275. 

Cadoudal,  George,  286. 

Cambronne  sunk,  346. 

Campbell,  Lord,  on  Napoleon  I.,  306. 

Campo  Formio,  treaty  of,  283. 

Cannes,  Napoleon  I.  lands  at,  302. 

Canzy,  General,  349. 

Carnot  and  the  Directory,  281. 

Cassock  and  the  French,  298. 

Cathelemeau,  276. 

Cavaignac,  General,  333 ;  declared  dictator, 
334;  and  Napoleon  I.,  338  ;  death  of,  388. 
Censorship  of  the  press  under  Louis  XVIII., 

3”- 

Chalons  outbreak  suppressed,  338. 

Charles,  archduke  of  Austria,  retreat  of,  283 ; 

the  war  with  Napoleon  I.,  292. 

Charles,  count  of  Artois,  309. 

Charles  X.,  312,  313,  314,  315,  318,  319. 
Christianity  in  the  Reign  of  Terror,  277. 


INDEX. 


XXXVII 


CHRISTINA. 

Christina,  queen  of  Spain,  329. 

Chouans,  the,  276. 

Cochin  China,  six  provinces  of,  conquered,  340. 
Code,  the  Napoleon,  285. 

Commerce  of  France  destroyed,  286. 
Communists  of  1871,  343;  demands  of  in  1883, 
351- 

Concordat,  the,  285. 

Concord,  the  temple  of,  302. 

Condorcet,  275. 

Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  290,  294. 

Consul  for  life,  286. 

Consulate,  the,  284. 

Convention,  the,  277,  279,  280. 

Corday,  Charlotte,  murders  Murat,  277 ;  death 
of,  278. 

Courier,  31 1. 

Crimean  War,  337,  338,  339. 

Danton,  Georgies-Jacques,  279. 
Davidowich,  General,  283. 

Days,  the  hundred,  from  March  13,  to  June  20, 
1815,  302-307. 

Denis,  M.,  minister  of  justice,  351. 

Denmark  and  Napoleon  I.,  294. 

Dennewitz,  battle  of,  300. 

Deputies,  chambers  of,  and  Charles  X.,  313. 
Directory,  the,  its  character  and  acts,  281-284. 
Dore,  Gustave,  death  of,  350. 

Dresden  taken  by  Napoleon,  300. 

Ducos,  274. 

Dumouriez  driven  by  the  Prussians,  375. 

Echmuhl,  battle  of,  292. 

Egyptian  War,  247,  248. 

Elba,  Napoleon  sent  to,  300;  escaped  from, 
3ox- 

Elizabeth,  Madam,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  276. 
Enghien,  duke  of  D’,  murdered,  286. 

England,  declares  war  against  the  Republic, 
276  ;  threatened  invasion  of,  286  ;  threatened 
war  with  Louis  Philippe,  303;  objects  to 
Spanish  marriages,  328;  feeling  of  at  the 
coup  d'etat  of  Napoleon  III.,  334-337. 
“Enough  of  Bonaparte,”  300. 

Erfurt,  surrender  of,  291. 

Eugenie,  Empress,  regent,  339 ;  return  to  Paris, 

35°-  t  , 

Eugene,  Prince,  death  of,  344. 

Eylau,  battle  of,  291. 

Falliers,  M.,  bill  of,  350. 

Family  statute  of  Napoleon,  290. 

Favre,  Jules,  345. 

Ferry,  Jules,  education  bill  of,  345;  resigns, 
346;  forms  new  ministry,  351. 

Ferdinand  VII.  restored  to  the  throne  of  Spain, 
310,  3U. 

Feudal  and  manorial  rights  abolished,  272. 
Fieschi’s  attempt  to  kill  the  king,  321. 

Fould,  Achille,  removed,  339. 

France,  first  coalition  against,  275  ;  second  coa¬ 
lition,  276;  position  of  in  1802,  285;  under 


KAIRWAN. 

the  consulate,  384-387  ;  commerce  destroyed, 
286;  third  coalition,  288;  condition  in  1824, 
310;  evacuated  by  English,  310;  invasion 
of  Spain,  310. 

Franco-Prussian  War,  battles  of,  341-342. 

Frederick  William  and  Napoleon  I.,  299. 

Freycinet,  247. 

Friedland,  battle  of,  291. 

Funeral  of  Napoleon  I.,  327. 

Gaeta,  capture  of,  289. 

Gambetta,  president  of  the  chambers,  345 ; 
prime  minister,  346;  and  the  Egyptian  War, 
348  ;  death  of,  348  ;  cause  of  death,  349. 

Garibaldi,  339. 

Gaudet,  274 ;  proscribed,  276. 

Gensonne,  274. 

Germany,  the  empire  not  recognized  by  Napo¬ 
leon,  290 ;  feeling  in  at  the  close  of  Russian 
campaign,  298,  299  ;  all  Germany  rises  against 
France,  300. 

Ghent,  treaty  of,  302. 

Girondists,  274-275. 

Goddess  of  Reason,  277. 

Gramont,  Due  de,  345. 

Granveuve,  274. 

Granville,  Lord,  346. 

Grevy,  President,  344,  349,  351. 

Gross-Buren,  battle  of,  300. 

Guillotine,  victims  of,  277. 

Guizot,  M.,  on  Polignac,  313;  and  Casimer 
Perier,  315  ;  in  the  cabinet  of  Louis  Philippe, 
320;  and  Napoleon  III.,  322;  ambassador 
to  England,  323  ;  return  to  France,  323 ;  and 
Napoleon  III.,  324;  return  to  England,  326; 
and  the  treaty  of  July  15,  326  ;  return  to  the 
cabinet,  327  ;  and  Sir  Robert  Peel,  327  ;  and 
the  Spanish  marriages,  328 ;  and  the  revolu¬ 
tion  of  1848,  331  ;  retires  from  the  cabinet, 
33i- 

«r 

Halle,  battle  of,  291. 

Hoche,  General,  276. 

Hohenlohe,  General,  291. 

Hofer,  Andrew,  execution  of,  293. 

Industrial  Exhibition  of  1855,  338;  of 
1867,  341. 

Internal  administration  of  the  empire,  290. 

Isabella  of  Spain,  330. 

Italy,  kingdom  of,  189  ;  treaty  of  France  with, 
340  ;  convention  with,  341. 

Jacobins,  274. 

Japan,  treaty  with,  340. 

Jenna,  battle  of,  291. 

Jesuits,  expulsion  of  the,  347. 

Josephine  crowned,  288;  divorced,  293. 

Joseph  Louis  Philippe,  duke  of  Orleans,  before 
the  tribunal  of  Paris,  279. 

Journal  de  la  Rejublique,  277. 

Kairwan  occupied,  346. 


XXXVIII 


INDEX. 


KATZBACH. 

Katzbach,  battle  of,  300. 

Kellermann  and  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  275  ; 
imprisoned,  276. 

Labedozere  joins  Napoleon  III.,  304;  escape 
of,  308. 

Lafayette  on  Napoleon  III.,  306  ;  elected  to 
the  chambers,  309  ;  and  Martignac,  313  ;  and 
the  three  days  of  July,  317. 

Lafitte  and  Marshal  Marmont,  316;  removed, 
320. 

La  Lune,  battle  of,  275. 

Lamartine,  his  popularity  on  the  wane,  333. 
Larochjacquelein,  276. 

La  Vendee,  insurrection  in,  276. 

Leipzig  taken  by  Napoleon  III.,  300. 

Legion  of  Honor  established,  286. 

Legislative  assembly,  274. 

Leopold,  of  Hohenzollern  and  the  Spanish  mar¬ 
riage,  330;  and  Spain,  341. 

Lepeaux  and  the  Directory,  281. 

Lesseps,  De,  and  his  achievements,  342. 
Letourmeue  and  the  Directory,  281. 

Lobau,  battle  of,  292. 

Lodi,  battle  of,  282. 

Longroy,  capture  of,  275. 

Louis  XVI.,  273,  274,  275,  276. 

Louis  XVII.  and  Barras,  280. 

Louis  XVIII.,  301,  308,  309,  310,  31 1,  312. 
Louise,  Maria,  of  Austria,  marries  Napoleon  I., 
293  ;  birth  of  Napoleon  II.,  293. 

Louis  Ferdinand,  prince  of  Russia,  killed,  291. 
Louis  Philippe,  319,  320,  321,  325,  327,  328, 
329,  331,  332. 

Louvet,  309. 

Lubeck  surrendered,  291. 

Luneville,  treaty  of,  285. 

Lutzen,  battle  of,  299. 

Mac  Mahon,  President,  343 ;  resigns,  343. 
Madrid  occupied  by  Napoleon  I.,  292. 

Malakoff,  battle  of,  338. 

Mamelukes,  defeat  of,  283. 

Mantua,  siege  of,  raised,  283. 

Marat,  Paul  Jean,  277. 

Marchaud,  General,  joins  Napoleon  I.,  304. 
Marmont,  Marshal,  and  Lafitte,  316;  and  Polig- 
nac,  316. 

Martignac,  De,  and  Charles  X.,  313  ;  and  Polig- 
nac,  315. 

Massina  in  Naples,  289. 

Maximilian,  king  of  Mexico,  340 ;  death  of, 
340. 

McCarthy,  Justin,  extracts  from,  327,  334. 
Marengo,  battle  of,  285. 

Mexico  and  France,  339,  340. 

Milan,  Napoleon  I.  in,  282  ;  occupied,  285. 
Mirabeau,  273,  274,  278. 

Mond'iridi,  battle  of,  282. 

Montenotte,  battle  of,  282. 

Montig,  Mdlle.  de,  marries  Napoleon  I.,  334. 
Montpensier,  Due  de,  327. 

Moore,  Sir  John,  in  Spain,  292. 


PROVISIONAL. 

Moreau  in  Paris,  282  ;  army  of  the  Rhine,  285. 

Mortier  killed,  321. 

Moscow,  the  Russians  retreat  to,  296  ;  Napo¬ 
leon  I.  arrives  at,  297  ;  burning  of,  297  ;  Na¬ 
poleon  retires  from  the  city,  297  ;  evacuated 
by  the  French,  298. 

Murat,  Joachim,  given  Cleves,  290  ;  appointed 
king  of  Naples,  294. 

Naples,  war  against,  289;  Joseph  Bonaparte, 
king  of,  289;  Joachim  Murat,  king  of,  294. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  birth  of,  280;  his  career, 
280-307;  death  of,  310;  civil  government  of, 
285  ;  consul  for  life,  286 ;  his  opinion  of  the 
treaty,  308;  his  remains  removed  to  France, 
324;  interred  in  the  church  of  the  Invalides, 

327. 

Napoleon  II.,  birth  of,  294;  death  of,  320. 

Napoleon  III.,  321-343;  absolutism,  337;  Cri¬ 
mean  War  began,  337. 

Napoleon  column,  325. 

National  assembly,  acts  of,  272 ;  removed  to 
Paris  and  dissolved,  274. 

National  Guard  convoked,  272  ;  and  Louis  Na¬ 
poleon,  325  ;  and  the  revolution  of  1848,  331. 

Necker  recalled  by  Louis  XVI.,  272. 

Nelson,  Admiral,  death  of,  289. 

Ney,  Marshal,  at  battle  of  Dennewitz,  300 ; 
joins  the  emperor,  303  ;  executed,  309. 

New  Orleans,  battle  of,  302. 

O’Meara  and  Napoleon  I.,  308. 

Orleans,  duke  of,  Louis  Philippe  Joseph,  execu¬ 
tion  of,  279. 

Orleans,  duke  of,  and  Charles  X.,  313 ;  and  De 
Salvandy,  313  ;  called  to  the  government  by 
the  deputies,  317;  accepts  the  crown,  319. 
See  Louis  Philippe. 

Orleans,  Duchess,  regent,  332. 

Orsini’s  attempt  on  life  of  Napoleon  III.,  338. 

Palais  Royal  sacked,  332. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  and  Thiero,  323 ;  visit  to  Na¬ 
poleon  III.,  326;  return  to  the  cabinet,  330. 

Paoli,  General,  280. 

Paris,  rising  of  the  arrondissements  of,  in  1795  ; 
282 ;  the  allies  before,  301  ;  occupied  by  the 
allied  armies,  307;  the  revolution  of  1848, 
333;  and  Charles  X.,  314,  315;  fight  in  the 
streets  of,  315. 

Pages,  Gamier,  333. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  313. 

Petion,  275. 

Piamri’s  attempt  on  the  life  of  Napoleon  III., 
338. 

Pechegru,  Charles,  287. 

Plon-Plon,  Prince  Napoleon,  350 ;  in  London, 
351* 

Polignac,  Jules  de,  president  of  the  council, 
313;  and  Martignac,  315. 

Presburg,  treaty  of,  its  effect  on  Germany,  290. 

Proclamation  of  July  31,  1830,  317. 

Provisional  government  of  1871,  333. 


INDEX. 


XXXIX 


Prussia  and  France  declare  war,  291  ;  fall  of 
Prussia,  291  ;  renewal  of  public  spirit  in,  299  ; 
alliance  with  Russia  against  Napoleon  I., 
300 ;  refusal  of  the  demands  of  Napoleon 
III.,  341  ;  war  with  France  and  its  pretext, 
341  ;  South  German  States  unite  in  the  war, 
341  ;  results  of  the  war,  342. 

Public  safety,  committee  of,  277. 

Priggelier,  Captain,  325. 

Putlask,  battle  of,  291. 

Pyramids,  battle  of,  283. 

Reign  of  Terror,  276 ;  close  of,  279. 

Republican  armies  defeat  the  allies,  278. 

Republican  Kallender,  note  on,  271  ;  replaced 
by  Gregorian,  290. 

Republic,  the  new,  343-351. 

Revolution  of  1848,  331-337. 

Rewbel  and  the  directory,  281. 

Richelieu,  duke  of,  recalled  to  the  ministry,  310. 

Rochefort  and  Roustan,  346. 

Robespierre  and  the  Jacobins,  274,  277,  279, 
280. 

Roland,  Madame,  execution  of,  279. 

Rome,  king  of,  Napoleon  II.,  his  birth,  294. 

Rome  evacuated,  341. 

Rostopchin,  governor  of  Moscow,  297. 

Roustan  and  Rochefort,  346. 

Russia  and  Napoleon  I.,  291  ;  secret  treaty  at 
Tilsit, '291  ;  treaty  with  Sweden,  295;  war 
with  France  begins,  295  ;  ambassador  at 
Paris  dismissed,  295  ;  spirit  of  the  army,  296  ; 
retreat  to  Moscow,  296 ;  burning  of  the  city 
and  retreat  of  the  French,  297  ;  alliance  with 
Prussia,  300. 

Saalfield,  battle  of,  291. 

Sardinia  and  France  unite  against  Austria,  339. 

Scrutin  de  Izste,  346,  347. 

Sebour,  bishop  of  Paris,  assassinated,  338. 

Senatus  consult  us,  286. 

Sevastopol,  battle  of,  338. 

Sieyes,  Abbe,  and  the  Directory,  281. 

Smolensk,  battle  of,  296. 

Spain  and  France,  peace*of  1795,  285  J  French 
defeated  in,  300 ;  Spanish  marriages,  327. 

Sprandau  fortified  by  the  Prussians,  291. 

Stephens,  Professor,  and  Bernadotte,  300,  301  ; 
and  the  French  marriages,  327. 

Sweden,  treaty  with,  341. 

Tahiti,  difficulty  between  France  and  England 
over,  326. 

Talleyrand  at  the  council,  308 ;  against  capital 
punishment,  308;  and  Louis  XVIII.,  309. 

Terror,  reign  of,  begins,  277. 


Thiers  quoted,  294 ;  president  of  council,  323 ; 
and  England,  323  ;  return  to  the  cabinet,  332  ; 
president  of  Republic,  343  ;  resigned,  343 ; 
death  of,  344, 

Tilsit,  treaty  of,  291. 

Toulon,  siege  of,  by  revolutionists,  279. 

Trafalgar,  French  defeat  at,  289. 

Tribunate  abolished,  291. 

Tuileries,  defended  by  Napoleon,  282  ;  Napo¬ 
leon’s  return  to,  304  ;  assailed  in  1848,  332. 

Tunis  and  France,  346. 

Tyrol,  the  French  in  the,  293. 

Ukase,  the,  of  Alexander,  295. 

Ulm,  surrender  of,  to  Napoleon,  295. 

United  States  and  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  302; 
and  the  Mexican  expedition,  339. 

Valaze,  275. 

Valdau,  General  Horise  de,  350. 

Valmy,  the  Prussian  advance  arrested  at,  275. 

Vandamme  defeated,  300. 

Venetia  ceded  to  France,  341. 

Verginy,  De,  killed,  321. 

Verniaud,  274. 

Verdun,  capture  of,  275. 

Victor  Emanuel  and  Napoleon  III.,  339. 

Victoria,  Queen,  327,  328,  329,  338.  * 

Vienna  occupied  by  Napoleon,  292 ;  treaty  of, 
293. 

Villafranca,  treaty  of,  339. 

Ville,  Hotel  de,  333. 

Villele,  De,  31 1  ;  his  career  under  Louis  XVIII. 
and  Charles  X.,  312  ;  character  of,  313. 

Villeneuve,  289. 

Wachau,  battle  of,  300. 

Wagram,  battle  of,  329. 

Waterloo,  battle  of,  304,  305. 

Wellesly,  Marquis,  quoted,  294. 

Wellington  and  Waterloo,  304,  305  ;  first  learns 
of  Napoleon’s  escape,  302  ;  at  Brussels,  April 
4th,  1815,  303;  at  Waterloo,  304,  305;  the 
influence  of,  saves  the  life  of  Napoleon  I., 
306 ;  interview  of  the  wife  of  General  Ney 
with,  309  ;  influence  in  the  French  cabinet, 
313  ;  and  the  new  revolution,  320. 

Westphalia,  kingdom  of,  291  ;  submits  to  Na¬ 
poleon  L,  294. 

Wimphen,  General,  and  the  mob,  275. 

Wimereaux,  fiasco  at,  325. 

Woronow,  burned  by  the  governor  of  Moscow, 
297. 

Wurmser  defeated,  283. 

Zulu  war  and  Prince  Eugene,  344,  345. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  INDEX. 


Aduaticus  conquered  by  Julius  Caesar,  18. 
Agrippa,  governor  of  the  Gauls,  23. 

Alexander,  the  Great,  and  the  Gauls,  5. 

Algeria,  affairs  in,  358. 

Alsace-Lorraine,  agitation  over,  357  ;  passport 
system  in,  369. 

Anarchists  arrested,  367,  368  ;  activity  of,  370. 
Annam,  protectorate  over,  54. 

Antiochus,  King  of  Syria,  and  the  Gauls,  7. 
Aretium,  victory  of  the  Gauls  at,  8. 

Ariminium,  Roman  colony  founded  at,  8. 
Ariovistus  and  Julius  Caesar,  16,  17. 

Aristoxena  and  her  dowry,  3. 

Arvaricum  captured  by  Julius  Caesar,  19. 
Attalus  conquers  the  Gauls,  7. 

Augusti ,  two,  and  two  Ccesars ,  27. 

Augustus,  the  emperor,  policy  of,  in  Gaul,  23. 

Bagaudians,  the,  26. 

Baudin,  the  Socialist,  360. 

Bituitus,  King  of  the  Avernians,  n. 
Bouguereau,  M.,  marries  Miss  Gardner,  374. 
Boulanger,  General,  minister  of  war,  360 ;  mili¬ 
tary  organization  bill  of,  361  ;  elected  as 
deputy,  365  ;  duel  with  M.  Floquet,  366 ; 
suicide  of,  369. 

Brennus,  death  of,  7. 

Bret,  Paul,  civil  governor  of  Tonquin,  358. 
Briere  d’Isle,  General,  354. 

Brisson  Cabinet  resigns,  358. 

British  advance  on  Lagos,  364. 

Oesar,  Julius,  conquers  Gaul,  17,  18. 
Caligula,  the  emperor,  policy  of,  in  Gaul,  23. 
Campenon,  General,  resigns,  355. 

Cannae,  victory  at,  by  the  Gauls,  9. 
Carcassonne,  the  mairie  of,  365. 

Carnot,  President  of  France,  assassinated,  372. 
Casimir-Perier  forms  a  cabinet,  372  ;  elected 
president  and  resigns,  373. 

Chaul-Mong,  King  of  Annam,  357. 

China,  war  with,  353  ;  peace  with,  356. 
Claudius,  the  emperor,  policy  of,  in  Gaul,  23. 
Clemenceau,  M.,  made  minister  of  war,  356. 
Clusium  besieged  by  the  Gauls,  8. 

Coman  and  his  overthrow,  3. 

Communist  insurrection.  May  37,  1888,  366. 
Congo  Free  State,  convention  with,  364. 
Constans,  M.,  and  M.  Laur,  369. 

Constantine  Chlorus  made  Caesar,  27. 
Constantine,  the  Great,  sole  emperor,  27. 
Constitution,  revision  of,  353. 

Councils-General,  the,  360. 

Courcy,  General,  arrives  in  Tonquin,  356. 
Cremona,  founded  by  the  Romans,  9. 


Decazeville,  great  strike  at,  358. 

Decius,  victory  of,  over  the  Gauls,  8. 

Decorations  of  honor  scandal,  362. 

Deities  of  Gaul,  monument  to  the,  23. 
Desbordes,  Colonel,  in  command,  355. 
Diocletian  and  the  “  wild  boar,”  27  ;  made  em¬ 
peror,  27  ;  calls  Maximian  to  his  aid,  27 ;  ab¬ 
dicates,  27. 

Divitiacus  asks  help  of  the  Romans,  15. 
Domitian,  the  emperor,  visits  Gaul,  24. 
Dong-Son,  evacuation  of,  353. 

Druids  proscribed  by  Claudius,  24. 

Drusus,  victory  of,  over  the  Gauls,  9. 

Due  d’Aumale,  the  letter  of,  360. 

Dupuy  cabinet,  370 ;  second  cabinet,  373. 
Dynamite,  theft  and  explosion  of,  370. 

Eponina,  the  heroic  wife  of  Julius  Sabinus,  25. 
Etruscans,  the,  overcome  by  the  Gauls,  7. 
Euthymens  and  his  voyages  3. 

Euxenes  and  his  bride,  2  ;  Roman  treaty,  10. 

Ferry,  M.,  resigns,  355. 

Floquet  cabinet  formed,  364. 

France,  condition  of,  in  400  B.  C.,  1. 

Frederich,  Empress  Dowager,  visits  Paris,  369. 
Freycinet  cabinet  resigns,  370. 

Foochow  bombarded,  353. 

Formosa  blockaded,  353. 

Fourmies,  strike  at,  368. 

Galba,  the  Gaul,  emperor  of  Rome,  24. 

Gauls,  the  early  condition  of,  1  ;  in  Etruria,  4 ; 
reply  to  the  Roman  Senate,  5  ;  in  Greece, 
routed  at  Delphi,  6  ;  in  Asia  Minor,  7  ;  de¬ 
mand  help  of  Cinibil,  10  ;  defeat  four  Roman 
consuls  in  succession,  12  ;  defeated  by  Mar¬ 
ius,  14  ;  entirely  routed  by  Julius  Caesar,  21  ; 
insurrection  of  under  Domitian,  24  ;  condi¬ 
tion  of  under  the  “good  emperors,”  26. 
Gergoria  besieged  by  Julius  Caesar,  19. 

Germans  routed  by  Julius  Caesar,  17. 

Germany,  the  Gauls  in,  5  ;  ill  feeling  toward  in 
France,  362  ;  trouble  over  passports,  362. 
Goblet  Ministry,  the,  361. 

Great  Britain  twice  invaded  by  Julius  Caesar,  18. 
Greeks,  the,  in  Gaul,  2. 

Grevy,  M.,  reelected,  357  ;  resigned,  363. 

Gyptis  and  her  betrothal,  2, 

Herbinger,  Colonel,  acquitted,  355. 

Hue,  massacre  at,  367. 

Julius  Sabinus  proclaimed  Caesar  of  the 
Gallic  empire,  25  ;  death  of,  25. 


INDEX. 


xli 


Kelung  captured  by  the  French,  353. 

Labor,  Council  of,  367  ;  disturbances,  368. 
Lang-Kep  taken  by  the  French,  354. 

Langson  evacuated  by  the  Chinese,  356. 
Lavigerie,  Cardinal,  proposition  of,  368. 

Leo  XIII.,  encyclical  of,  368. 

Lesseps;  Charles  de,  and  others  arrested,  371. 

- Ferdinand  de,  death  of,  371. 

Lewal,  General,  made  minister  of  war,  355. 
Licinius  procurator  in  Gaul,  23. 

Light-house  between  Gaul  and  Britain,  23. 
Loubet  cabinet  formed  and  overthrown,  370. 
Lyons,  the  imperial  residence  of  Augustus,  22. 

Madagascar,  French  army  in,  373. 

Marius,  the  Consul,  13. 

Marseilles,  foundation  of,  2 ;  colonies  from,  3  ; 

craves  help  from  Rome,  11. 

Massowah,  affair  in,  367. 

Maxentius  defeated  by  Constantine,  27. 

Meline,  M.,  forms  a  cabinet,  373,  374. 

Melenite,  the  scandal,  368. 

Mobilization  of  the  French  army,  362. 

Nann,  the  Segobrian  chief,  2. 

Narbonne  colonized  by  the  Romans,  11. 
Negrier,  de,  General,  354. 

Nero’s  harsh  treatment  of  Gaul,  24. 

Nervians  conquered  by  Julius  Caesar,  18. 

Nerva,  the  emperor  of  Rome,  23. 

Nimes,  founded  by  the  Phoenicians,  2. 

Panama  Canal  Company,  the  crisis  of,  367 ; 

scandal  of,  investigated,  371. 

Paris,  strikes  of  the  trades  in,  366. 

Plancentia  founded  by  the  Romans,  9. 

Princes,  bill  to  expell  the,  from  France,  369. 
Ptolomy,  “  the  thunderbolt,”  slain  in  battle,  6. 
Pytheas  and  his  voyages,  3. 


Raudine  Plains,  battle  in  the,  14. 

Reinach,  Baron  de,  sudden  death  of,  370. 
Religious  Associations,  restrictions  on,  369. 

“  Republican  Concentration,”  364. 

Ribot  cabinet  formed,  371. 

Romans,  the,  first  meet  the  Gauls  in  battle,  7. 
Rome,  first  capture  of  the  city  of,  by  the  Gauls, 
8;  alarm  at,  9;  policy  of  towards  Gaul,  10. 
Rothan,  M.,  expelled  from  Strasburg,  357. 
Rouvier  cabinet  resigns,  363. 

Sarien,  M.,  minister  of  interior,  resigns,  360. 
Segobians,  the,  2. 

Sena,  Roman  colony  founded  at,  9, 

Senate,  French,  members  of  increased,  353; 

election  for,  in  1885,  353;  action  of,  371. 
- ,  the  Roman,  the  curse  of,  10. 

Tariff  System,  a  new,  367  ;  protective,  369 
Teutons,  the,  and  Cimbrians  threaten  Italy,  12. 
Thuyet,  prime  minister  of  Annam,  flight  of,  357. 
Tiberius,  the  emperor,  policy  of,  in  Gaul,  23. 
Tirard,  M.,  cabinet  of,  364;  again  minister  of 
finance,  371. 

Toulon,  Russian  fleet’s  visit  to,  372. 

Towns,  early,  in  Gaul,  1. 

Tripone,  M.,  and  the  melenite  scandal,  368. 

Tu  Due,  King  of  Annam,  dethroned,  357. 
Turpitie,  M.,  and  the  melenite  scandal,  368. 

Vatican,  negotiations  with,  denied,  370. 
Vespasian  condemns  Eponina  to  death,  25. 

Watrin,  murder  of,  358. 

Wilson,  M.,  investigation  of,  362. 

Zola,  Emile,  rejected  by  French  Academy,  374. 


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